American watercolors, 1880-1990 : into the light / edited by Joachim Homann, Margaret Morgan Grasselli, and Miriam Stewart ; with contributions by Horace D. Ballard, Elisa Germán, Margaret Morgan Grasselli, Joachim Homann, Penley Knipe, Miriam Stewart, and Richard Tuttle.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Homann, Joachim, editor.

Grasselli, Margaret Morgan, 1951- editor.

Stewart, Miriam, editor.

Ballard, Horace D., Contributor.

Germán, Elisa, Contributor.

Grasselli, Margaret Morgan, Contributor.

Homann, Joachim, Contributor.

Knipe, Penley, Contributor.

Stewart, Miriam, Contributor.

Tuttle, Richard, Contributor.

Harvard Art Museums, host institution, issuing body.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Watercolor painting, American--19th century--Exhibitions.

Watercolor painting, American.

Watercolor painting, American--20th century--Exhibitions.

Genre:

Exhibition catalogs.

Physical Description:

184 pages : color illustrations ; 28 cm

Distribution:

New Haven ; London : Yale University Press

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass : Harvard Art Museums, [2023]

Summary:

"Watercolor holds a special place in the history of American art. For generations of artists, the medium has provided a space for innovation and experimentation, allowing practitioners to let their imagination loose and to reflect on process and perception. Its rise to the status of fine art in the decades following the Civil War is well documented, yet its continued role as a testing ground and means of generating new ideas throughout the twentieth century has received comparatively less attention.This volume considers continuity and change in the American watercolor tradition over a century of production through the lens of the Harvard Art Museums' collection. Works by well-known watercolorists such as Winslow Homer, John Singer Sargent, and James Abbott McNeill Whistler are included, as well as surprising additions from Zelda Fitzgerald, Alexander Calder, Claes Oldenburg, and many others. In the spirit of the medium, the authors take a fluid and open-ended approach to the topic, offering both personal and scholarly reflections that invite readers to ponder the influence of these works on their own experience of the world. In addition to contextual essays, there are close readings of singular works and examinations of the unique material characteristics of the watercolor medium."--Distributor's website.

Contents:

Changing light, reflected: a century of American watercolors at the Harvard Art Museums / Joachim Homann

Wet-into-wet: passages of time and tradition before 1880 / Horace D. Ballard

The new American medium watercolor of the late twentieth century / Elisa Germán

Material matters / Penley Knipe and Miriam Stewart

Six Sunday thoughts on my work with watercolor / Richard Tuttle.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

Published in the occasion of the exhibition of the same title, held at Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, May 20-August 13, 2023.

ISBN:

9780300269703

0300269706

OCLC:

1374561105