Watercolor: A History

Marie-Pierre Salé 

Hardcover | 26.16 x 4.57 x 32.51 cm | 400 pp

Abbeville Press | 2023 | 9780789213730

This is the most comprehensive and best-illustrated history of watercolour painting ever published, featuring more than 300 full-colour illustrations printed on Munken paper to capture the vibrancy and texture of the original works. 

The term watercolour calls to mind atmosphere, luminosity, and immediacy - qualities that derive directly from the quick-drying, translucent nature of water-based pigments. In Watercolor: A History, Louvre curator Marie-Pierre Salé provides an authoritative and beautifully illustrated account of this versatile and widely beloved artistic medium.

Salé's incisive text traces the development of watercolour from the 13th to the 20th century in Europe and the United States, encompassing every type of work - from plein-air sketches to finished studio pieces - and a wide variety of artists. Here are Dürer's detailed animal studies, Turner's landscapes, Cézanne's tireless explorations, Sargent's light-dappled sketches and O'Keeffe's pioneering abstractions.