View paintings of flowers in watercolor by contemporary artists. The best watercolorists of the world: works, painting techniques, photos

• What are the global trends in watercolor art?
• What is most valued in watercolor?
• Who is the most popular artist in the world?

Perhaps the best answer to this question is I international competition Watercolors(The 1st World Watercolor Competition), conducted by the popular magazine “The Art of Watercolor”.

1615 artists took part in the competition. 1891 watercolors were presented. The jury first selected 295 semi-finalists and then 23 finalists. 7 artists were awarded prizes.

The works of all participants are published in the competition catalogue.

And this gives a wonderful opportunity to see the “face” - best watercolors 2014.

First of all, when I looked through the catalog, I saw the following:

The best watercolors of the world: main trends

Landscapes, as always, are in the majority. Especially urban ones. And if they are presented in some unusual way, then they may well end up in the finals.

Like this work by William Hook, an artist from the USA:

One of the most popular topics is portraits of old people.

I would like to think that this is from universal love and respect for older people, from interest in their lives, from the desire to understand how they live, to see the imprint of time on their faces.

Here are a couple of catalog pages:

Or maybe the topic is raised by many, since the artist is a reflection public consciousness. And often artists reflect acute social problems in their paintings...

Yes, The topic of national minorities and emigrants, by the way, also often comes up…

Be that as it may, among the 7 winning works, two are portraits of old people.

First place, winner of the competition – Cheng-Wen Cheng, an artist from Taiwan with the painting “Loving Mother”:

The silver medal of the competition went to Chinese artist Guan Weixing for his painting “The Smoking Old Man”:

Are you already wondering who received the Bronze medal?..

In third place is (Hail Celestial Empire!) the Chinese artist Liu Yi. I believe many are familiar with his work from his compositions with ballerinas.

The work “Chinese Girl” was presented at the competition:

I don't know about you, but I see this good sign. East and West are becoming closer to each other. Eastern artists paint in a traditional European manner, and Europeans, on the contrary, study guohua and sumi-e, draw geishas and sakura... There are also such examples in the catalogue.

Here, for example, is a watercolor by the Argentine artist Stella Escalante:

By the way, one more observation – VERY few watercolors with flowers. For the entire catalog with more than 1800 works there are not 30 pieces...

Moreover, most of them are in the second part of the catalogue, “in the slag,” as I called it. What else can you call the eliminated authors whose watercolors did not qualify for the semi-finals? There is slag.

My work, by the way, is also in this row... :) Here are a couple of these “gray” pages, opened at random:

On the gray pages, for the most part, there are some amateur works, with poor drawings and poor technique.

However, there are also very good famous artists. But the jury did not appreciate them.

It was difficult for him, the jury... This is always the question - how to judge? What to take as a measure?

And if with a weak drawing and composition as a whole everything is clear, there are no questions - it’s straight into the slag, then among the professionals you already have to think.

What to prioritize? Socially significant topics? Realism? Innovation in technology? Or, on the contrary, loyalty to traditions?

Of course, artists also ask these same questions. Participation in a competition is an opportunity to look at your creativity from the outside. Who am I? Where am I going? Where am I among other artists? Are people interested in what I'm interested in?

It was these questions that prompted me to submit watercolors to the competition that I myself do not fully understand. This is energy painting. Works that preserve a certain energy-information component.

Marina Trushnikova. “The World of Crystal”

I showed this watercolor on the blog a year ago. You may remember the practice I suggested. There were a lot of comments that made me realize that people are now more sensitive in their perception. And what we call abstraction can give us all kinds of feelings and memories.

Unfortunately, with the change of site, the comments disappeared. If you want, try this practice for yourself, write your impressions. It's here:

And we will return to the “white” and “black” pages of the catalog.

The best watercolors, the works of the semi-finalists, are placed on the white ones. It was nice to see Konstantin Sterkhov, Evgeniy Kisnichan, and Ilya Ibryaev there.

And it was even more pleasant to see our compatriots Elena Bazanova and Dmitry Rodzin among the 23 finalists.

Elena Bazanova. “End of winter 2012. Apples”

Dmitry Rodzin. "Summer"

As you can see, Most of the finalists' works are very realistic.

Here, for example, is a watercolor by the Lithuanian artist Egle Lipeikaite:

Or the Frenchman Georges Artaud, he received a prize in the category “Best French Artist”:

Just a meditation on water... I like it. Anything is more pleasant than looking at the work of another finalist, American artist Andrew Kish III.

A cure for those who are tired of trash and fuss. In a world where tons of information garbage fall on us every day, sometimes we really want to detach ourselves from everything and breathe full breasts and fix your gaze on something calm, not causing any irritation or discomfort. We believe that best vacation for the mind and vision it is an immersion in the world of art. In this review, we have collected works by watercolor artists that will fill you with silence and become a sip. fresh air on a hot city day.

Travel to Paris with Thierry Duval

Hot Afternoon Kanta Harusaki

Living Water by David Drummond

Country morning by Christian Granju

Evening Calm by Joseph Zbukvic

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Watercolor is often called the most naughty, capricious paint. It is difficult to work with, difficult to store, unpredictable and requires maximum concentration from the artist. But those who managed to conquer and tame it know the secret of creating truly amazing works, looking at which you ask the only question: “Who did they sell their soul to in order to paint like that?”

website invites you to the gallery of truly atmospheric, bright and talented works. This is exactly the kind of contemporary art that is not ashamed to confess its love.

The emotional realism of Steve Hanks

The faces of people in most of the artist’s paintings are darkened or turned to the side. This is done to express emotions and to allow the body to “speak.” “I have always tried to show the world only positive moments in life. I hope that my work brings joy, peace and comfort to the viewer's life,” says Hanks.

Rainy watercolor by Lin Ching Che

The talented artist Lin Ching-Che is 27 years old. He is inspired autumn rain. Cloudy city streets do not make a guy feel melancholy and despondent, but rather make him want to pick up a brush. Lin Ching Che paints in watercolors. With colorful water it glorifies the rainy beauty of megacities.

The boiling fantasy of Arush Votsmush

Hiding under the pseudonym Arush Votsmush talented artist from Sevastopol Alexander Shumtsov. The artist says about his paintings: “I’m not trying to prove anything to anyone with my works. First of all, I enjoy it. This is a pure creativity drug. Or clean life- without doping. Just a miracle."

The charm of Paris in the works of Thierry Duval

Paris-born artist Thierry Duval has traveled extensively. Hence the presence of entire series of paintings based on “geographical characteristics.” Nevertheless, Paris was and remains the author’s favorite place. The lion's share of works is dedicated specifically to the city of lovers. He has his own technique of layering watercolors, which allows him to create paintings with almost hyper-realistic detail.

Evening Calm by Joseph Zbukvic

Today, Croatian-born Australian Joseph Zbukvic is considered one of the pillars of watercolor painting throughout the world. The artist fell in love with watercolor literally from the first stroke; he was struck by the untamed nature and individuality of this technique.

Secrets of the East through the eyes of Myo Vin Ong

The artist Myoe Win Aung dedicated all his work to his native Burma, its everyday life and holidays, lay people and monks, towns and cities. This world is calm, dressed in gentle colors, mysterious and slightly thoughtful, like the smile of Buddha.

Incredible watercolor by Joe Francis Dowden

English artist Joe Francis Dowden paints hyper-realistic watercolors. And he believes that everyone can do this, you just need to know the secrets of the technique. The secret of his inspiration is extremely simple: “Throw away your watercolor textbooks and get lost in a real forest.”

The magic of ballet from Liu Yi

The watercolors of this Chinese artist can easily be called art about art. After all, his favorite topic is images of people who are directly related to him - for example, ballerinas or classical musicians. The way they are presented in the paintings is peculiar: people seem to emerge from a thin haze, emotional and very characteristic. To some extent they echo the images of ballerinas French artist Edgar Degas.

So, some time ago we had a conversation about the perception of paintings in isolation from the name of the artist, and everything that stands behind the name. You can read about the beginning here
Today I will tell you who is who.
The general conclusions from your comments and the survey of my friends are that the quality level of the film is immediately visible. Some madness or strangeness too, but very often people are confused whether this is a sign contemporary art, or just something incomprehensible... Distinguish between Russian, Chinese, European artist also turned out to be difficult. Only a few guessed correctly, and even then, mainly only because they recognized the authors of the paintings.


Watercolor No. 1
English artist - William Turner (1775-1851)
He is awesome.
Each of his paintings is worth tens of millions of pounds. Be sure to look at his watercolors, but not on the Internet, but preferably at least in paper reproductions

Watercolor No. 2
St. Petersburg watercolorist - Sergey Temerev.
His journal sergestus
I found it by accident when I was looking on LiveJournal for those who paint with watercolors. I really like his paintings - and seascapes, and very unusual still lifes. I dream of attending a master class one day :))

Watercolor No. 3
Konstantin Kuzema. Contemporary St. Petersburg artist. 100 best watercolor painters in the world and all that :) They talk a lot about him now, especially those who are learning to draw.
A site where you can view other works or read useful articles about technology http://kuzema.my1.ru
But personally, I am deeply indifferent to his paintings. Doesn't touch anything.

Watercolor No. 4
Author: Joseph Branko Zbukvic. Born in 1952 in Croatia. Later he moved to Australia.
One of the most recognized watercolorists in the world. His paintings and technique are simply amazing. You can write his name in Google or Yandex and enjoy :)

Watercolor No. 5


This is my three-minute sketch for this last watercolor:

Where is the sketch and where is the watercolor?:) I just wanted to check something, and I figured out the composition while I was drawing with my daughter. Although the most popular answer was that this particular artist is from China :) Here they are, my eastern roots :))))) This work is completely wrong, because all watercolor paint I mixed it with white to check how it would affect the smudges.

Watercolor No. 6
Konstantin Sterkhov.
He is interesting because he maintains an extremely informative blog about watercolor artists, interviews them without reference to language and geographic barriers. Lives in St. Petersburg, but sometimes gives master classes in Moscow.
Blog http://sterkhovart.blogspot.ru/
Facebook page

Watercolor - (from French aquarelle - water, from Latin aqua - water) paint for painting. It consists of finely ground pigment and easily water-soluble adhesives of plant origin - gum arabic and dextrin. Honey, sugar and glycerin retain moisture.

Watercolor is light, transparent, and at the same time complex. Does not tolerate correction. This paint has been known since ancient times. They were used in ancient Egypt, ancient China and in the countries of the ancient world. Watercolor needs special, porous paper. It was invented in China. The paint is easily absorbed into it. But the difficulty lies in transparency - you cannot cover one color with another - they will mix. It is impossible to correct the mistake, except perhaps to beat the spot that accidentally appeared. There are “wet brush” watercolors and “dry brush” watercolors. I love the first appointment. It is also called “a la prima”. It is lighter, more transparent.

In Europe, watercolor painting came into use later than other types of painting. One of the Renaissance artists who achieved great success in watercolor painting was Albrecht Dürer. An example of this is his work “The Hare”.

Albrecht Durer (1471-1528) Hare

Albrecht Durer (1471-1528) Primrose vulgaris, 1503. Washington, National Gallery of Art

In the 18th-19th centuries, thanks to Thomas Gurtin and Joseph Turner, watercolor became one of the the most important species English painting.

Thomas Girtin, English artist (1775-1802) Ruins of Savoy Castle

Thomas Guertin was a young artist who died at the age of 27, but he is rightly called an outstanding artist. He very quickly developed his own style: sweeping aside some old canons, removing what was limited in the drawing, he began to refuse to develop the foreground, sought to capture open space, striving for panoramicness.

Turner. Kirkby Lonsdale church courtyard

The watercolorist also constantly improved his technique and studied the nature of the movement of water and air. By the beginning of the 19th century, in his watercolors he achieved the power and expressiveness usually inherent in oil painting. By discarding unnecessary detail, he created new type landscape through which the artist revealed his memories and experiences.

The innovations of Gurtin, who began to use watercolors for large-format paintings, and Turner, who significantly enriched the arsenal of technical techniques as a watercolorist, brought to life the further rise of English watercolors in the work of landscape artists.

The English tradition of watercolor has had strong influence on Russian artists, especially those who were associated with Imperial Academy arts, located in the capital of the empire - St. Petersburg.

The first name in the chronicle of Russian watercolors is Petr Fedorovich Sokolov.

He painted portraits of his contemporaries.

Watercolor painting in St. Petersburg and Russia reached an exceptional flowering in the last decades of the 19th and the first two decades of the 20th century. At a time when there were no photographs yet, speed of execution, a minimum number of tedious posing sessions, airiness of color - all this was needed Russian society. And therefore, it was watercolor that enjoyed success in the upper and middle layers.

Eduard Petrovich Gau. Gatchina Palace LOWER THRONE HALL. 1877

Such painters as Ilya Repin, Mikhail Vrubel, Valentin Serov, Ivan Bilibin brought their original tribute to the art of watercolor.

Vrubel

V. Serov Portrait of I. Repin

Ivan Yakovlevich Bilibin (1876-1942). On the river bank. Pencil, watercolor

An important stage in the development of Russian watercolors was the organization in 1887 of the “Society of Russian Watercolorists,” which arose from a circle of watercolorists. Regular watercolor exhibitions and the creation of the “Society of Russian Watercolorists” (1887) contributed to the widespread dissemination of the technique and increased its status. The Society’s program had no ideological orientation; representatives of the Society coexisted peacefully within its composition different directions united by a passion for the art of watercolor. A. N. Benois was elected its first chairman. The society was active in exhibition activities, holding in 1896-1918. thirty-eight exhibitions. Its members were A.K. Beggrov, Albert Benois, P.D. Buchkin, N.N. Karazin, M.P. Klodt, L.F. Logario, A.I. Meshchersky, E.D. Polenova, A. P. Sokolov, P. P. Sokolov and others.

ALEXANDER BEGGROV Galera. Tver. 1867.

The task of preserving and transmitting the traditions of the watercolor school early XIX century and preparing the ground for a new rise in watercolor, the “Society of Russian Watercolorists” undoubtedly accomplished. Watercolor began to be perceived again as an independent field with its own language visual arts. Many members of the Society became teachers for the next generation of artists.

Watercolor painting also fascinated members of the World of Art association. Alexandra Benois(1870-1960), Lev Bakst (1866-1924), Ivan Bilibin (1876-1942), Konstantin Somov (1869-1939), Anna Ostroumova-Lebedeva (1871-1955). Watercolors were owned by the poet Maximilian Voloshin (1877-1932), whose drawings overlapped with his poetic works.

Lev Samoilovich Bakst. Dancer from the ballet Firebird. 1910. Watercolor.

Ivan Bilibin

K. Somov. Bathers. 1904. Paper, watercolor.

Alexander Palace in Detskoye Selo (watercolor) P A Ostroymov-Lebedev

Voloshin

Among the largest watercolor masters of the 20th century are N. A. Tyrsa, S. V. Gerasimov, A. A. Deineka, S. E. Zakharov, M. A. Zubreeva, A. S. Vedernikov, G. S. Vereisky, P. D. Buchkin, V. M. Konashevich, N. F. Lapshin, V. V. Lebedev, G. K. Malysh, A. N. Samokhvalov, S. I. Pustovoitov, V. A. Vetrogonsky, V. S. Klimashin, V.K. Teterin, A.I. Fonvizin and others.

Tyrsa N.A. Portrait of Anna Akhmatova. 1928 Paper, black watercolor

A.A.Deineka