Watercolour in Britain

Accompanying a major exhibition that will tour Britain in 2010, this thought-provoking yet accessible survey of the art of watercolour in Britain will provide a visual feast. From the glories of Britain's 'golden age of watercolour' in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries to the latest contemporary practice, the book will include works by artists as various as JMW Turner, William Blake, the Pre-Raphaelites, John Piper and Henry Moore. Themed sections examine watercolour's place in the British 'national tradition'; its use to portray travels; the versatility of the medium; and watercolour as a means of visionary expression.

As well as including major works by familiar artists, the book also highlights the important role of amateurs and the place of women artists in the British tradition of watercolour, different and diverse global traditions of the use of the medium and the reasons for its enduring appeal to the present day. Martin Myrone is Curator of Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century British Art at Tate Britain. He is the author of "The Blake Book and George Stubbs".