In the one hundred and twenty year period between 1850 and 1970, California has been the home to a large number of extremely talented and versatile watercolor artists. While some became nationally and internationally recognized, most were largely overlooked until recent years. Since the 1970s, art collectors and museum curators have developed a serious interest in California watercolors and have been seeking these works to collect and display.

Rather than discussing California watercolors on a strictly chronological basis, the first three chapters of this book are divided into three sections dealing with different stylistic approaches-traditional and modern realism, the California Style, and abstract and non-objective watercolors.

In the fourth chapter are 555 biographies of artists who produced watercolors in California during the period between 1850 and 1970. Whenever possible the details of the artists lives and art careers were obtained through personal interviews with the artists themselves or with their relatives or friends.

Many of the watercolors reproduced in this book are award-winning paintings and serve as exceptional examples of artworks produced by leading artists active in California during the one hundred and twenty year period covered.

Courtesy of California Watercolors, 1850-1970, © 2002 Hillcrest Press, Inc.

California Watercolor