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To Have the World in Hand: The Art of
Watercolor
John Marin, New York Landscape,
1920, watercolor, 15 x 18 inches
The art of watercolor is predicated on the pleasures and challenges of
solubility, on the fluid capabilities of pigment suspended in water and
the deft technique it has required of artists for centuries.
Organized thematically, To Have the World in Hand surveys the
sites
and
subjects of interest to practitioners of the medium, as represented by
works in the UAMA permanent collections. The exhibition features several
major watercolorists of the 20th century, including Europeans Emil Nolde
and Raoul Dufy, and Americans Charles Burchfield and John Marin, among
others. From the earliest, most traditional examples of watercolor
painting to surprising contemporary experiments, all of the works engage
the characteristics of the medium: immediacy, transparency,
malleability, and luminosity.
Many of the pieces on view (landscapes, street scenes, and maritimes)
are products of an important plein air tradition, of painting
out
of
doors in close visual relation to a subject, with a box or tin of
watercolor pigments in hand. Others emerge from studio practice, and ply
the medium in a more controlled environment to often experimental
effect. However undertaken, the works included here demonstrate -- in
layers of wash, vivid coloring, staining, delicacy of dilution, subtle
nuances and graceful gestures -- the distinctive art of watercolor.
Visit our Exhibition History page for information
on past exhibitions at UAMA.
UAMA: (520) 621-7567
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