World Watercolor Day

Watercolor occupies an intermediate position between graphics and painting, combining the features of both techniques The paint captivates with its unpredictability and lively nature, richness of tone and lack of relief of the stroke Art historians distinguish several types of watercolor depending on the moisture content of the brush and sheet, multi-layer application of color, etc Paint is valued for its unpredictability and living nature November 23 marks the International Day of Watercolor - one of the most difficult painting techniques The initiator of the celebration was the Mexican artist Alfredo Guati Rojo In the 1829 work of Payot de Montaber, “A Complete Treatise on Painting,” watercolor is mentioned in passing as an art that does not deserve serious attention However, AG Rojo was convinced that technology, no worse than other types of painting, conveys the beauty and versatility of the world The artist founded the National Watercolor Museum in Mexico City in 1964, and in 2001 achieved the establishment of World Watercolor Day The blurriness of the stroke, the subtlety and airiness of color transitions, giving the image the effect of lightness and airiness are features inherent only to this type of painting The appearance of watercolor is associated with the invention of paper, the basis for drawing, in China in the 2nd century AD In Europe, the drawing technique became popular much later than others - only in the 12th century During the Renaissance, watercolor was used by such famous artists as Albrecht Durer, Joseph Turner, Anthony van Dyck, Giovanni Castiglione and Claude Lorrain The technique became one of the leading types of painting in England in the 17th-19th centuries Due to its growing popularity, in 1804 the artists of “Foggy Albion” founded the Society of Watercolor Painters At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries The French Paul Signac, Gustave Moreau, Raoul Dufy and Paul Cezanne, the Swede Carl Larsson and the German Paul Klee paid tribute to this type of painting The pioneer of its use in painting at the beginning of the 19th century the most unruly and capricious paint and an unsurpassed master was Pyotr Fedorovich Sokolov He is the founder of Russian watercolor portrait Karl Bryullov, Ilya Repin, Mikhail Vrubel, Alexander Benois and Valentin Serov are considered to continue the tradition Lev Lagorio, Vasily Polenov, Arseny Meshchersky, and other landscape and marine painters came out of the “Society of Russian Watercolor Painters” founded in 1887 Maximilian Voloshin, better known as a poet, translator and literary critic, also worked with watercolors At the origins of abstract painting and Russian expressionism of the twentieth century Wassily Kandinsky stood He painted with watercolors, calling his paintings in a musical manner improvisations and compositions One of the leading representatives of academic painting in this difficult technique is the world-famous Sergei Andriyaka The artist founded the School in St Petersburg in 1999, and the Academy of Watercolor and Fine Arts in 2002 On November 23, in honor of World Watercolor Day, master classes are held, flash mobs, auctions, and exhibitions of paintings by famous and emerging painters are organized International Watercolor Day is a celebration of lightness, grace and elusive beauty Therefore, it is celebrated annually with joy both by artists working in this technique and by fans of their skills