Geoffrey Humphries has been the pre-eminent watercolorist working in Venice for the last fifty years. His acute sensitivity to light and its ability to transform color is at the core of his achievement. His watercolors are rapidly executed, on the spot, always maintaining the spontaneity of their execution and the immediacy of their artistic perception. In a very real sense, the city itself is his studio. He has the unique opportunity of returning to the same place, month after month, bearing witness to the constantly differing effects of light and atmosphere. The exhibition at Stanford in Washington Art Gallery includes 44 watercolors including many of the well-known sights that have made the city famous, such as the Basilica of San Marco, the Piazza, the Rialto Bridge, and the Grand Canal. However, Humphries is just as interested in views that are characteristic of the daily experience of the expatriate’s life in Venice.
