Introduction to the History and Technique of Water-colour Painting

Marion Feld

Water-colour painting has been a prevalent form of art throughout this century, beloved especially among amateurs and people interested in art. The reason for this is mainly that one can precisely visualise a theme and that the colours have a vital and appealing effect. Wispy and translucent colours flow in gentle transitions in transparent layers. Planes and spots of colour compose a picture as opposed to those were the element of line and graphic clarity play a larger role. Certainly this popularity rests on the fact that so many people have a personal experience of doing water-colour painting. Every school child has his box of paints. Through its patters of behaviour, colour imbues an excited audience with astonishment, surprise, and joy, up to this day.

The German term for water-colour painting, "Aquarell", is derived from the Latin "aqua", which means water, so that the literal translation is water-colour painting. However this is only applicable to water in its fluid sense, where it fulfils its role as the transporter of pigment to paper. Generally, and with that is meant the traditional form of water-colour painting, pulverised pigment is combined with one of several binding materials, such as glue, gelatine, or rubber cement, and then pressed into little pots. A special water-colour brush is dipped into water to apply the paints to an absorbent paper. Traditionally, this paper is a white paper or cardboard with a rough, uneven surface, and is usually machine-made.

Other surfaces, especially different kinds of paper, such as hand-made papers which have a lot of surface structure, deckle-edged paper, or rice papers, relay special effects but require more dexterity and proficiency. Indian ink is also used, and is in fact preferred in Asia. Indian ink combines pigments such as soot with a large proportion of binding material, in order to achieve a fast drying, more delicate and unchangeable stroke. This style demands a fast, skilled hand.

The process of water-colour painting is determined by its inherent watery nature. Veils of colour are applied ranging from light and delicate to dark and full tones. The white background remains visible through the applications of colour, the pure white canvas is sometimes incorporated into the scheme. In contrast to other methods of painting, lighter colours cannot be applied afterwards. They have therefore necessarily be premeditated, requiring extreme flexibility and intuitive decision in the execution.

All manner of painting materials and colour nuances are freely available today in premixed fashion. Despite this fact, most painters still follow the traditional mode of developing their own palette of hues by mixing the three primary colours yellow, red, and blue. The colours are either mixed beforehand and then applied to the background, or a combination is created directly on the paper by superimposing layer by layer of colour. This process allows for endless possibilities of mixing, layering, and depth, where the results remain visible in the finished product. There exists no other means of mixing colour where this particular technique of "Lavieren" (from the French implying criss-cross washing of surfaces) is so directly experienceable. The subtle ability to modulate colours in all fashion relays the particular signature quality of water-colours. Spontaneity of style and optical appeal certify a sense of essential creativity within the realm of painting.

Absorbent paper allows for immediate diffusion of colour even with punctual or minimal brush contact. Due to the quick drying process, edges of colour appear. Although the edges can often be considered a conscious part of the composition, they are often regarded as undesirable and are almost uncorrectable. Since the 19th century it is common to use a wet background or other preparations in order to avoid the forming of edges. Once again, the conscious use of edges is only achieved through masterly dexterity.

This precludes that water-colour and Indian ink painting uses no preformed blueprint, except for an occasional quickly pencilled idea. The flowing colours allow for no fixed definition in the depiction of its subjects. Background and main subject overflow into one another. The white background retains its quality as the source of light requiring a sensitive, but spontaneous action.

It becomes evident that besides having to afford of a masterly technique with a preference for gesture, extreme concentration is required during the course of painting. Among Asian artists using Indian ink, and those Western artists who are inspired by them, meditation and, especially in the East religion plays a large role in the creation of art. The German artist Julius Bissier explained this process in detail. Following a long period of meditation and concentration, the artist explodes his intentions on to paper seemingly circumventing intellectual engagement.

During the course of its long tradition of water-colour and Indian ink painting in Asia, an individual and formal mode of expression including thematical limitations developed. Artist and audience alike required a high level of education in order to achieve a certain inner posture necessary to fully appreciate this form of art. It was not uncommon that a long training period, sometimes a whole lifetime, was necessary in order to improve and refine one's techniques and abilities. This constitutes the major difference between East and West in the realm of water-colour painting. Since the 18th and 19th centuries when it reached its greatest popularity, water-colour painting has been freely available, due to its seemingly simple means of execution also among dilettantes (here using the word in its original significance, of doing something for pleasure).

According to historical investigations, advanced civilisations of the eastern Mediterranean regions utilised water-colour techniques to adorn their walls as well as for their miniature paintings. During the Middle Ages this method was employed for the underground colouring of book illuminations. In the 15th and 16th centuries coloured paints were applied to finished woodcut prints.

Albrecht Dürer is responsible for water-colour painting achieving its first individual character through his private use of this method for landscapes and the sketches of animals and plants. Dürer can therefore be considered the forerunner of this mode of modern expression, which really only became popular in the 18th century.

Very important for the development and circulation of water-colour painting in Europe is the development and circulation of paper. Still, it is difficult to fix a continuous history of water-colour painting throughout the centuries. Too many painters show only short-termed affinity to this method based on the given technical limitations and colour preferences.

In the 18th century, England displayed a pronounced affinity to this form of painting. In 1804 the "Society of Painters in Water-Colour" was founded in London, later becoming the "Old Water-Colour Society". In 1770 a book was published outlining the first painting theory titled "Art of Drawing and Painting in Water-Colours". But it was especially the English artist William Turner who was responsible for raising water-colour painting to a level of its own through the strength of his paintings full of atmosphere and visionary landscape impressions.

It was also very easy and popular during the 19th century to carry along a box of paints while on a journey. This habit was beloved of professionals and amateurs alike and necessarily set a standard for the traditionally small format and a special kind of reception.

The technical specifications and spontaneous application of colour allow for a sense of freedom emphasising a nonclassical standpoint. It was typically, therefore the antiacademic artists of modern times who discovered and preferred water-colour painting as their means of expression. Included among the genres were the open-air painters, the Impressionists who sought the ephemeral atmospheric moment, then the Fauves and Expressionists enthusiastically sought a mode for heightening colour and form. For some artists, water-colour painting became the absolute expression of their individual style. This was the case with Emil Nolde, who like no one else gave flowers, landscapes, genre, and even biblical themes an expressive and moving articulation through his free-swinging, broad, and colour-soaked brushstrokes.

After all of this preparation and continuity, it would seem obvious that water-colour painting would be predestined to become a preferred means of expression in modern abstract art. There are in fact a number of artists since 1945 who regard water-colour painting as their preferred medium such as WOLS, Julius Bissier, Berhard Schultze, Gotthard Graubner, Douglas Swan, Eun Nim Ro, and Michael Buthe. As it turns out, modern artists choose other means for their main expression, using water-colour painting only for sketches or publications or demonstration purposes, as is the case with Joseph Beuys and Franz Erhard Walther.

This obvious and questionable neglect, the missing investigation of its phenomena and theory, prove that there is a definite need to reavaluate the history and modern importance of water-colour painting. Space for viewing potentially new tendencies give a well-founded reason for creating and naming a biennial "new" water-colour painting.

It is easily conceivable that the free and experimental use of materials, methods, forms, and even the definition of art through contemporary artists will lead water-colour painting into a new metamorphoses. Innovative backgrounds, painting substances, and changing formats, including other spatial dimensions, unconventional combinations and appearances must lead to exiting new works of art.