12/14/2012

How Water Color Artists Contribute To Culture

By Celia Hall


The water color artists that one should know about have made names for themselves practicing a difficult art. Colors that are dissolved in water are used to create compositions on a surface of paper or similar material. Although the materials are usually quite cheap it is quite easy to make a meaningless mess with water colors. Exponents of the method demonstrate tremendous skill in controlling pigments so that precise lines and shades are evident in depictions.

Chinese paintings are the consequence of two techniques known as ink and wash and 'gong-bi'. The term 'watercolor' is not used for linguistic reasons but oils are not used and ink or paint is applied in brush strokes. Although many of the greatest works were plundered and destroyed by the British in the nineteen century exquisite works remain, some done on silk and dating back many years.

Traditionally Chinese works tend to be more flat. In the West greater use is made of perspective. Contemporary Eastern painters in the twenty-first century adapt easily to water color techniques from the West. As techniques evolve some are tending to introduce more perspective into their works, drawing from western traditions but retaining the precision and calligraphic effects of the East.

Thomas Gainsborough was a famous eighteenth century painter. In those times the major demand was for portraits but Gainsborough preferred to paint landscapes and works such as 'The Watering Place' illustrate his easy brush strokes and love of light colors. He is said to have painted portraits to put bread on the table but landscapes out of love. It was not usual in his time for people to love landscapes so much because nature was often seen as being hostile.

Perhaps he best known British exponent of this painting method is J. M. W Turner. He also used oils but his water color works are so magnificent that he is considered by some to be the last word in water color. A prolific painter, Turner lived from 1775 to 1851, producing hundreds of works many of which are in prominent galleries, filling walls with shimmering effects and interesting lights.

Turner's prodigious talent was nurtured by his family and other great painters from an early age. When he was only fifteen an important painting was exhibited by the Royal Academy. As he developed he traveled widely and studied under important masters though remaining a private person. In the evolution of his work light plays an increasingly significant role. He used shimmering effects to depict the force of the sun and the violence of storms and ship wrecks.

When Turner lived the environment was not seen as something under threat, but as a powerful force opposed to the survival of human life. He painted landscapes which illustrated the powerful and violent sides of nature. Often he witnessed storms and ship wrecks personally, sketching in pencil and later filling his sketches with color and form.

In the era of globalization there many water color artists who draw on traditions of both East and West. Important exponents of the method such as Cheng-Khee Chee exhibit online and in local galleries. Their works often include elements of style that seem draw from the traditions of both East and West. Such developments are exciting because the melding of the two styles result in unique but impressive works that are both traditional and innovative.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment