Painting-the

Essays on topics related to the subject are preceded by text written by the editor and exhibit curator, Cornelia Homberg, ("Vincent van Gogh's Avant-Garde Strategies"). Homberg suggests the 'petit boulevard' was both an avant garde artistic movement following the Impressionists and an actual commercial location in Paris at the end of the 19th Century. The Exhibit featured works by members of the avant garde group (Van Gogh, Gauguin, Seurat, Signac, Pissaro, Toulous-Latrec, Anquetin, Bernard and others "petit" artists).

Homberg challenges the notion that Vincent van Gogh always worked alone and that his art was a "one-off" as other critics have suggested. She says Van Gogh was a member of an artists colony located in the vicinity rue Lepic where he lived with his brother Theo (Montmartre area), that he may have coined the phrase "Petit Boulevard" (he discussed it with Theo in their letters following his removal to Arles), and he saw himself as a leader of this innovative group (which he hoped to bring to Arles as a "brotherhood" of artists).

In his essay entitled "The Cultural Geography of the Petit Boulevard" Richard Thomas describes the material dimensions of the place and time within which the "petit boulevard" artists worked. He describes the "off-off-Broadway/Bourbon Street" atmosphere of the bohemian artistic community -- a proletarian territory dominated by factories, caberets, taverns, le circque, brothels, and other down scale establishments (Chat Noir, Molin Rouge) where 'decadent iconograpy' was born. He says artists such as Toulouse Latrec, Steinlin, Willith, and others developed commercial prints depicting this mileau.

In the third essay, Elizabeth Childs describes the escape of Gauguin and Seurat to Pont Aven and Van Gogh to Arles following their Paris adventures. Here the artists hoped to reconnect with the timeless cycles of nature and leave the crass, commercial, class-ridden city behind. Childs says once Gauguin reached Pont Aven, the Celtic Catholic nature of Brittany spurred Gauguin to develop a medieval stain-glass cloisonnist style of art. She contrasts Gauguin's work with Van Gogh's 'rural' art which he based on a love of Japanese prints (by Hiroshege and others) and what he fancied to be Japanese culture, as well as the Barbizon style which included Daumier and Millet. In the last essay, John House discusses landscapes by Van Gogh (who influenced by his Dutch predecessor Rembrandt and the French Millet) as well as other artists of the period including Gauguin.

The book is filled beautiful reproductions of the paintings and other works included in the Exhibit (prints and photographs of the various items of art, the people involved, and the places they lived and worked). Sadly, one would have to do quite a bit of traveling to recapitulate the Exhibit, and then the synergistic effect would be missing. On the other hand, the book is a solid testament to the art that followed Impressionism. Although I had seen many of the paintings in their home museums (National Gallery, Chicago Art Institute, D'Orsay, Van Gogh Museum, etc.) I had not seen some of the works in private hands, nor the photographs of the period. This book is a valuable addition to my collection.

The book is well-organized into lessons which build on each other. Becker writes clear instructions and provides beautiful illustrations to demonstrate every point. For example, on just one page he takes us from the original reference photo of a street work crew, through black and white versions, to his finished painting, showing (as well as describing) how he changed the value contrast and colors to improve the overall composition.

Watercolor Composition Made Easy does an excellent job of presenting "rules" for placement of the elements of a painting, and it also does much more. It addresses the familiar watercolor considerations such as blurred versus hard edges, light and dark values, the color wheel, and perspective, but always in terms of how they contribute to the overall composition. This book also provides many miscellaneous tips which Becker has developed in his extensive career. For example, I found the description of (and sample sketches from) his portable sketching setup to be particularly intriguing and helpful.

They start you off with painting some small pictures, even blobs if you are comfortable with it, and you will be amazed to see how much your lil paintings look like paintings instead of a piece of crap (which is what i expected---can i say crap?) anyway, they give you pages where you can "play" and you don't start color mixing and other frightening things until later.

Later on, you do landscapes and play around with some light and shadow. Its like the fisher price version of learning to paint!! Sometimes, my pictures blended in with their little pictures along the way, which made me happy. They just turn something very scary, into something a lil more easy.

If you run out of paints or brushes, or you want some more paper, there's a phone number in the back you can call to order some more!! I love klutz products, cause I am one!! Highly recommended!!

Each chapter has a project/demonstration and lists exactly the brushes used, the paint, surfaces, etc. By following the instructions you learn a new approach to watercolor painting. The process is not unlike egg tempera painting (which I also do) except with watercolor paint. After reading this book and completing the acorn project I am ready to begin the next project. I know I am going to have to incorporate more of this style of watercolor painting in my new work.

As for the text of the book, it is interesting, informative, and insightful. Altogether, this is a very well put together book; it is one of the finest books I have in my collection.

The hundreds of paintings reproduced in this large-format book deserve five stars. The publisher should be thanked for bringing together works scattered around a large number of museums, and for giving us a finely produced art book. Even fans of Winslow Homer will not have seen most of these paintings, which may represent the summit of American watercolors. Unfortunately, the accompanying text goes far beyond what is necessary to appreciate Homer's art. The descriptions of personal history and technique are helpful, but not the philosophical musings and overwrought interpretations. The text should have been cut by a third.