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Introduction

Tradition and Innovation in American Watercolors

January 27 - April 11, 1999

Along with Winslow Homer, John Singer Sargent has been considered for generations as one of the great American masters of watercolor. Although known throughout his career as an extremely popular society painter in oils, his work on paper, to which he turned as a break from the rigors of portraiture, is regarded by many to be his most creative artistic endeavor. As in his oils, he emphasized the effects of light and shadow, but here he turned much of his focus to landscape and architecture. Although he used watercolor all of his life, it was not until after the tum of the century that he held this work in high enough regard to exhibit it. His watercolors mark an important transition in American art, combining impressionist concerns with a more modem and vigorous approach to painting. Their effortless and spontaneous qualities, which Sargent cultivated, belie much study and preparation. Unlike Homer, whose approach to the medium evolved throughout his career, Sargent's technical repertoire was varied and experimental from beginning to end. He combined -- sometimes in one sheet -- wet, bleeding washes with thick impasto; masked-out areas of white; and rough scraping to create what one critic called "a rare and exquisite balance between painterly freedom and discipline."

Winslow Homer is often considered the quintessential American artist. He lived almost his entire life in the United States, in contrast to most other artists of his time, who flocked to European academies after the Civil War. His illustrations for Harper's Weekly and other periodicals and publications gave him entry into the art world in the 1850s. In 1873, Homer began seriously pursuing watercolor. Without intending to minimize his work as a draftsman, printmaker, and painter, Homer's oft-quoted statement bears repeating here: "You will see, in the future I will live by my watercolors."

Selected Objects

Z0029742.jpg

Oscar Bluemner

Rosy Light, 1927
Z0033268.jpg

John Singer Sargent

Rocky Coast Near Boston, 1921
Z0054456.jpg

John Singer Sargent

Tomb, Toledo, 1903
Z0051335.jpg

Seth Eastman

Great Canyon, River Gila, ca. 1853
RISDM 34-794.jpg

Charles Ephraim Burchfield

Three Boats in Winter, 1933
Z0029761.jpg

Winslow Homer

English Coastal Scene, 1883
Z0029734.jpg

Jessie Willcox Smith

The Picture Book, ca. 1906
Z0029767.jpg

Charles Demuth

Bicyclists, ca. 1916 - 1917
RISDM 72-001 v_01.jpg

Sam Francis

Composition, 1960
No Image Available

Italo Scanga

Eggplant, 1973
Z0031747.jpg

Joan Mitchell

Untitled, 1966
Z0054234.jpg

George Overbury Hart

The Flower Battle, Oaxaca, 1927
Z0033269.jpg

Charles Demuth

Bathers, 1916
Z0030786.jpg

Sibley Smith

Rural Nocturne, 1938
81.009.jpg

Richard Foster Yarde

The Parlor II, 1980
Z0029739.jpg

William Trost Richards

Field Study, 1889
Z0000363.jpg

Oscar Bluemner

Canal at Philipsburg, 1916
RISDM 1990-115.jpg

Gerald Collins Gleeson

Untitled (Harbor Scene), 1949-1952
Z0029735.jpg

Winslow Homer

Girl and Daisies, 1878
Z0018576.jpg

Maurice Brazil Prendergast

The Village, 1918-24
Z0054307.jpg

Reginald Marsh

Train, 1933
Z0029736.jpg

Winslow Homer

Boy and Horse Plowing, 1880
Z0029766.jpg

Childe Hassam

Woman and Mastiff in the Boston Public Garden, 1885
RISDM 1992-030.jpg

Jonathan Janson

View of Providence, ca. 1990-2000
RISDM 36-172.jpg

Thomas Eakins

Baseball Players Practicing, 1875
Z0020293.jpg

John La Farge

Japanese Crackle Pottery with Camellias, 1879
Z0000359.jpg

George Benjamin Luks

St. Patrick's Cathedral, 1923-1924
Z0052734.jpg

Dorothy Dehner

Untitled (Abstract Composition), 1955
Z0016394.jpg

John Singer Sargent

Rio di Santa Maria Formosa, Venice, 1905
Z0016392.jpg

John Singer Sargent

In the Tyrol, late 1800s-early 1900s
RISDM 51-505.jpg

Charles Ephraim Burchfield

Gates Down, 1920
Z0029755.jpg

Jacob Lawrence

There is an Average of Four Bars to Every Block, 1943
Z0033293.jpg

John Henry Twachtman

München, 1878
Z0033342.jpg

John Marin

Lake George:On Andrew's Island, 1923
Z0054317.jpg

John Singer Sargent

Simplon, 1909-1911
Z0030197.jpg

Winslow Homer

Hunting Dogs in Boat (Waiting for the Start), 1889
No Image Available

Alan Shields

Untitled, 1970
Z0054232.jpg

Gene Kloss

Untitled (Southwest Landscape), 1900s
Z0029741.jpg

William Zorach

Birch Forest, late 1800s-mid 1900s
Z0052711.jpg

Charles Ephraim Burchfield

Violets, 1917
Z0029737.jpg

Winslow Homer

Girl and Sheep, 1880
RISDM 1998-48.jpg

Jacqueline Ott

Continuum #37, 1997
Z0054547.jpg

John La Farge

Study of a Figure, 1897
Z0050116.jpg

Herman Decker

Lonsdale Wharf, Providence, R.I., 1878
RISDM 1998-83.jpg

Thomas Sgouros

Remembered Landscape, August 14, 1996

More objects +

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