Booklist Review
The Metropolitan has one of the "largest and finest collections of American watercolors in the world," and this striking volume contains around 150 of the best. An introductory essay discusses the history of watercolors and the difficult and exacting techniques employed to make use of their unique qualities of luminosity, airiness, and immediacy. The clarity and transparency of watercolors make them the perfect medium for depicting nature, and many of the paintings are land- and seascapes. This sampling spans the entire range of approaches from meticulous use of dry brush with almost scientific detail to the expressiveness of washes. Beginning with the bright, flat, graphic work of eighteenth-century folk artists, the plates follow the evolution of more painterly and personal styles, including the work of John William Hill, Winslow Homer, George Inness, the "technical wizardry" of John Singer Sargent, Maurice Prendergast, Charles Demuth, and John Marin, to name some of the best known. In sum, a beautiful collection, well supported by the text. ~--Donna Seaman
Library Journal Review
From the Metropolitan's enormous collection of watercolor paintings, 150 examples have been selected for the exhibition this book accompanies. American artists have made the watercolor medium uniquely their own, and this sumptuous collection reveals the skill and talent of artists from the late 18th to the early 20th centuries. Victor Koshkin-Youritzin's introduction provides a brief survey and assessment of many of the artists and works included. Stephen Rubin's commentaries on a select number of the artists accompany the plates but, curiously, many artists who will be unfamiliar to the general reader are not discussed. Additional critical essays would have given meaningful substance to a lovely picture book. Although this volume provides a glimpse into a little-known aspect of the Met's collection, it is not an essential purchase for most libraries.-- Lynell A. Morr, John & Mable Ringling Museum of Art Lib., Sarasota, Fla. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
