watercolor

Review Women Artists in Britain 1520-1920 – revelations and puzzling omissions

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Mary Delany (1700-88) was a witty memoirist aged 72 when she essentially invented paper collage in Britain. Noticing the similarity between a geranium and a piece of red paper, she took her scissors and cut out a petal freehand. The exquisite plant that grew from Delany’s work looked so exactly like a watercolor that people … Read more

Degas to Toulouse-Lautrec review – a show full of surprises

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A surprising spectacle awaits anyone who visits the Royal Academy’s latest Impressionist exhibition. It is visible even before entering, through the double glass doors. A dancer yawns and stretches, ballet shoes turned out, in an oil sketch by Degas. Her mouth drops open in exhaustion; the neck of her tutu is a frisson of rapid … Read more