Watercolors From The Permanent Collection

Watercolor painting dates perhaps to the cave paintings of Paleolithic Europe, and has been used for manuscript illustration since at least Egyptian times, with particular prominence in the European Middle Ages.

However, its continuous history as an art medium begins with the Renaissance. The German Northern Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528), who painted several fine botanical, wildlife, and landscape watercolors, is generally considered among the earliest examples of watercolor.

Despite this early start, watercolors were generally used by Baroque easel painters only for sketches, copies or cartoons. Notable early practitioners of watercolor painting were Van Dyck (during his stay in England), Claude Lorrain, Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione, and many Dutch and Flemish artists. However, botanical illustration and wildlife illustration perhaps form the oldest and most important traditions in watercolor painting. Botanical illustrations became popular during the Renaissance, both as hand-tinted woodblock illustrations in books or broadsheets and as tinted ink drawings on vellum or paper. Botanical artists have traditionally been some of the most exacting and accomplished watercolor painters, and even today, watercolors—with their unique ability to summarize, clarify, and idealize in full color—are used to illustrate scientific and museum publications. Wildlife illustration reached its peak in the 19th century with artists such as John James Audubon, and today many naturalist field guides are still illustrated with watercolor paintings.

Watercolor painting also became popular in the United States during the 19th century; outstanding early practitioners included John James Audubon, as well as early Hudson River School painters such as William H. Bartlett and George Harvey.  The American Society of Painters in Watercolor (now the American Watercolor Society) was founded in 1866. Late-19th-century American exponents of the medium included Thomas Moran, Thomas Eakins, John Singer Sargent, Childe Hassam, and, preeminently, Winslow Homer.

The term “watercolor” refers to paints that use water-soluble, complex carbohydrates as a binder. Originally (in the 16th to 18th centuries), watercolor binders were sugars and/or hide glues, but since the 19th century, the preferred binder is natural gum arabic, with glycerin and/or honey as additives to improve plasticity and solubility of the binder, and with other chemicals added to improve product shelf life.

This exhibition features watercolors from PAAM’s permanent collection including artists Charles Hawthorne, Josephine Hopper, Helen Frankenthaler, John Grillo, Blanche Lazzell, Lester Johnson, and many others.

THE PERMANENT COLLECTION

The permanent collection is an important measure of any museum’s value. At PAAM, the holdings of local and regional art is extensive and dynamic, comprising nearly 5,000 works by over 900 artists who have worked in Provincetown and on Cape Cod.  As an actively collecting museum, PAAM receives on average nearly 100 new works each year, and these exhibitions allow us to proudly display a selection of those works, some of which represent the first works by an artist in our permanent collection. We extend our deepest gratitude to our new and continuing donors.

Image: John Grillo, Untitled, 1948, Watercolor on paper, PAAM Collection, Gift of the artist, 2011