Donald Holden
Born in Los Angeles in 1931, Holden’s only formal art training came at New York’s Art Students League, but he relates that he learned much from frequent visits to New York’s museums and art galleries. He credits his Columbia professors with teaching him that “painting was more than technique.” Following periods where he worked with oils and sculpted, he began painting watercolors in the early 1980s, and his landscapes are an exercise in restraint. “I paint for people willing to take their time,” he states, to “enjoy all the subtleties that don’t emerge at first glance. “The palette is subdued, the imagery modest, the scale intimate, but the finished works are deceptively complex. Holden’s paintings are exquisitely-rendered landscapes, rich with dark passages and hazy light. “I like to think that my watercolors are small, quiet worlds that invite you to step inside and lose yourself.” Holden’s influences include the 15th century Japanese master, Sesshe Toyo, J.M.W. Turner, and James McNeill Whistler.
Mr. Holden’s watercolors are included in over 40 museum collections around the world, including the British Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Gallery of Art (Washington, DC), Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Victoria & Albert (London).
Holden has made frequent contributions to art magazines and journals, and is the author of more than 20 books on painting and drawing including Whistler Landscapes and Seascapes (1969), selected for the White House library of notable books on American art. His work can be found in an impressive array of public and private collections in the United States and abroad.
Washington Post Arts Review - October 7, 1999
