Tate Britain Gallery

I am currently visiting the UK and Ireland on a holiday and have just been to see the Watercolour Exhibition at the Tate Britain Gallery in London. What a wonderful exhibition. It covers the history of watercolor in Great Britain and treats such topics as:

  • History of watercolor paints and pigments including Gum Arabic and other binders
  • History of watercolor paper and its manufacture
  • Watercolor brushes and other tools and materials
  • Developments of watercolor techniques flat wash, scraping, dry brush, etc
  • Use in botanical art
  • Use in recording biological subjects e.g. birds and animals
  • Art of representational landscapes
  • Watercolor during the war
  • Watercolor through the ages and how its use has developed from a tool to render quick sketches and topographical studies to a fully fledged artistic medium
  • Development of Exhibition watercolors
  • Watercolor landscape paintings
  • Modern and abstract art with watercolor
  • The above topics are all supported with wonderful watercolor paintings through the ages including some great work by J.M.W.Turner, Alfred William Hunt, John Fredrick Lewis, John Sell Cotman through to more contemporary artists.

If you get to London I highly recommend you visit this exhibition!

Happy painting

Joe Cartwright