Watercolor: A History

This is a beautiful coffee table book, well published, nice color reproductions, well referenced and with a detailed historical appendix about watercolor paints, brushes etc. However, I am not sure whether it satisfies the historical interests about watercolor as an artistic medium beyond France and Europe. It is well translated into English from the original French. The book is titled "Watercolor, A History" for reason; it is not a complete history of watercolor. Examples of what it does not cover: 1. Almost nothing about Chinese, Japanese and the Far Eastern watercolor tradition. 2. The section on illuminated manuscript paintings does not cover traditions like the Eastern Christian and Islamic. 3. Coverage of 20th century watercolor painting stops with Kandinsky and Paul Klee. 4. Even some of the great French watercolor painters like Raoul Dufy are hardly mentioned. If there was a detailed presentation of its content I would not have paid what it cost me to buy this book.

I bought this for a friend as a birthday gift. It’s a beautiful book and he loves it. If you are into art and watercolor painting, you no be disappointed by this book.

It’s an amazing book, great quality, huge and it’s content is fascinating.