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Watercolor "nature into art"
For centuries, watercolor was the chosen medium for making plant and
animal studies accurate. Watercolor paintings have been used since
medieval times to illustrate herbals and medicine herbs. Nature studies
were all basically inspired by people's desire to know as much as
possible about the world they lived in. It was watercolor painters
who often provided the first real images of plants and animals.
Some of the most influential watercolor art critics from the early 19th
century were Samuel Dixon, John Ruskin, Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues, and
Winslow Homer. All of these artists shared the same passion to illustrate
the accuracy of nature and animals.
Albrecht Dürer,
A Young Hare, 1502, Watercolor
Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) is often recognized as the first all-around
master of watercolor. Albrecht chose to focus on landscapes and in many
ways, his inquiring approach to landscape anticipated the best of the great
19th-century watercolor tradition.
The first ten years of the 20th century saw a move in Western art
away from the realism that had dominated since the 15th century, toward
an approach loosely labeled "Abstraction." The advance of
photography, invented in the mid-19th century, seemed to have ended
the quest to represent reality. Some of the most significant 20th
century artists have used abstract images and have found the fluid
nature of watercolor ideal for producing these kinds of forms. By
the 20th century, abstract artists had found new ways of using watercolor
- for example, Picasso's harsh brushwork in Head of a Woman.
Because of the medium's immediacy - any errors are difficult to correct
- it is perfect for artists exploring basic shapes and colors.
Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) is considered to be one of the 20th century's
most important artists. Born in Spain, he spent most of his life in
France. He was an original member of the Cubist group in the early
20th century, and later became involved with Surrealism. Although
much of his art was semi-abstract, it remained dominated by the human
figure.
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