In the wake of the successful Watercolor Expert, comes this new volume from Britain's distinguished Royal Watercolor Society, offering a fascinating look into the mind and work of the world's most illustrious watercolorists, past and present. Brimming with beautiful paintings by the RWS's masters-from Cotman and Burne-Jones to Singer-Sargent-each is exhibited alongside a current member's newly generated work that was inspired by the original. Accompanying both are revealing essays on how the new pictures reflect the old, and how both compare in terms of composition, color, tone, draftsmanship, and creating a narrative. This retrospective is sure to inspire beginners and practiced artists alike.

English landscape watercolor painting, a perfect marriage of genre and medium, entered a lively period of experimentation in style and content during the second half of the nineteenth century, with rich and diverse results. Through all the changes of style and technique and all the debates over the appropriate use of the medium, it was watercolor's ability to convey the timeless truth and reality of the natural world that mattered to artists, critics, and audiences. British watercolors of the Victorian period continued to observe an essential humility before nature; they remain fresh and compellingly immediate because they derived in the first place from the artists' heartfelt communion with the elements of nature. Victorian Landscape Watercolors begins with a consideration of the continuing influence of the great generation who earlier in the century, during the extraordinary parallel rise of watercolor and landscape painting, had established the landscape watercolor as a major British contribution to the arts. The second chapter examines the role of the landscape watercolor in the aesthetic thought of John Ruskin, whose critical voice played a dominant role in shaping that art. The third chapter looks at the place of landscape within the watercolor societies and its development as it appeared in their annual exhibitions. The final chapter deals with the tug of new and old, foreign and native in the later Victorian period. The book also features 126 watercolors, from public and private collections in America and England, all reproduced in full color and accompanied by individual commentaries. Among the 76 artists represented are David Cox, Sr. and Jr., Walter Crane, William HolmanHunt, Edward Lear, Samuel Palmer, James Mallord William Turner, James McNeill Whistler, and Ruskin himself, along with dozens of lesser-known masters of the medium. Victorian Landscape Watercolors is published in conjunction with the first exhibition to survey this period of this particularly British contribution to the arts; the exhibition, organized by the Yale Center for British Art in New Haven, Connecticut, will also be seen at the Cleveland Museum of Art and in Birmingham, England.

Samuel Prout was one of the first artists to specialize in continental views. In the early 1820s he popularized the scenery of the grand tour- Normandy, the Rhine, the Low Countries, Switzerland and Italy, particularly Venice- with a wider public, through the print trade and his books of engravings and lithographs. George IV appointed him 'Painter in Water-Colours in Ordinary' in 1829, and Prout continued to enjoy royal patronage. His especial skill in depicting architectural subjects won him the admiration of Ruskin, who was to become a personal friend. Yet since the end of the nineteenth century Prout's work has received relatively little attention from art historians."--Publisher description.

First published in 1997, this volume will revolutionise the study of watercolour painting in Britain. The Royal Watercolour Society archive constitutes a major academic resource covering two hundred years of the history of watercolour painting in Britain. The rediscovery in 1980 of ‘the Jenkins Papers’, the early records of the Society, was a major find for the history of British art. The archives are substantial and remarkably comprehensive. Minutes of annual general meetings, Council and committees, are all intact; extraordinarily, the Society’s catalogues for its own exhibitions have also survived, with details of who bought the pictures and for how much. It contains biographical information on several hundred artists who practised throughout the United Kingdom from the end of the eighteenth century to the present day. Prepared by the archivist to the RWS, Simon Fenwick, this is not just a work of reference, but an absorbing book to dip into again and again. The Society of Painters in Water Colours, as it was then titled, was founded in 1804 to promote the interests of painters using watercolour and to provide a platform for members to sell their work. As such, its archives provide an excellent insight into the evolving debate on the status of the artists and their medium, and an authoritative account of the way in which watercolour paintings were sold, distributed and acquired. The substantial introduction by Greg Smith surveys some of the purposes and practices of watercolour from 1750 to the present day and highlights key issues, many yet to be examined, relating to the study of watercolour. His survey is arranged around a number of topics including the notion of watercolour as a British art, collecting and display, book illustration, architectural drawing, map-making and topography, antiquarian studies, decorative arts, printmaking, portrait miniatures and drawings, amateur practices and the changing status of the sketch.

" Watercolour Challenge" is Channel 4`s daytime series featuring amateur painters. Presented by Hannah Gordon, the show travels to some of the most beautiful parts of the British Isles and challenges local artists to paint a scene from a chosen area in just four hours. For some this is a terrible rush - for others it is just too long. All have their distinctive style - some representational, some expressionists, some abstract - and with such a range of subjects, Diana Vowles has the opportunity to discuss all aspects of watercolour as she meets so many different painters. " Watercolour Challenge" aims to inspire other would-be artists to don their smocks and pick up their paintbrushes. The book is an accessible practical guide to watercolour painting, including guidance on how to get started, descriptions of all the major techniques, hints and tips from the " Watercolour Challenge" experts and detailed descriptions of the styles employed by the competitors.