. This exhibition presents more than 100 watercolors by the greatest masters of the medium, including J.M.W. Turner, John Constable, John Robert Cozens, and Thomas Girtin, drawn from the collections of The Huntington and the Courtauld Institute Gallery in London. The exhibit also includes superb works by artists better known for their accomplishments in other media, such as oil painter David Wilkie, as well as paintings by important artists like John "Warwick" Smith and Francis Towne, who were relatively unknown until "discovered" by collectors. Many of these works have never before been exhibited in the United States.
British Watercolor: Thomas Girtin
An Eye for Beauty explores the history of British watercolor as it was defined by early 20th-century. Romantic artists like Turner, Girtin, Peter De Wint, and David Cox defined the standard of excellence by which we still measure the art form today. These men were connoisseurs, individuals qualified to act as critical judges of art because of their understanding of its formal beauty, techniques and compositional principles. This exhibition looks at the history of British watercolor through the lens of their connoisseurship and judgments, which helped establish the canon of great British watercolor artists.
Orchids: A Natural Obsession
The exhibition, “Orchids: A Natural Obsession,” is drawn exclusively from Huntington materials, in particular its outstanding collections of rare botanical books, many with glorious full-color illustrations. Works from the William Glikbarg Collection, amassed by the noted orchid collector and donated to The Huntington in 2002, comprise the core of the exhibition. Strong supporting materials come from an earlier gift from the Los Gatos orchid nursery, El Rancho Rinconada.
The Art of the Book
Morris became renowned throughout his life as a writer and poet. He published several books of poetry, prose romances and translations of Norse and classical texts, and lectured widely on design and socialism. In the last decade of his life Morris added the profession of book printer to his already remarkable range of accomplishments. He founded the Kelmscott Press, named after his beloved home, to print books "with the hope of producing some which would have a definite claim to beauty."