TitleYellowstone Fire
Artist
Donald Holden
(1931 - 2017)
Date1991
MediumWatercolor
DimensionsSheet size: 10 3/8 × 14 1/4 in.
Image size: 9 1/2 × 13 1/2 in.
Mat size: 16 × 20 in.
SignedSigned lower left in white pencil: "Holden '91"
SubmissionNA diploma presentation, September 21, 1994
Credit LineNational Academy of Design, New York, NY
Object number1994.22
Label TextHolden began working with watercolor as his principal medium in 1986. He developed his own unique approach to the medium based on his admiration and study of such 16th century Venetian masters as Giorgione and Titian. In homage to their glowing translucent color he develops his watercolors gradually, painting one transparent wash over another in order to create the effect of color shining through color. He mixes colors right on the paper and allows them to combine and seep into the fibers. Holden wants the resulting colors to come as a surprise, as they blur and blend and go their own way.In 1989, Holden drove through the Yellowstone National Forest and witnessed the devastating effects of the forest fire of the previous year. He photographed the charred and blackened slopes covered by fallen trees, and borrowed video footage from a cameraman who covered the fire for CBS television. Over the course of 1990 and 1991, Holden created hundreds of sketches from the photos and tapes, and made over 50 watercolor paintings of the fire. He put aside all his preparatory studies and created the watercolors from memory. These works frequently picture wraithlike fire shrouded in smoky clouds of bright orange, red and yellow, and bring to mind the 19thcentury British artist James M. W. Turner’s series of watercolors of the burning of the English Parliament.
