Peter Dumas
Venice
With his new series Peter Dumas (1944) shows that he knows how to catch the charm of Venice. Gondola's peacefully rolling over the rippling water, characteristic palazzos with gothic facades and warm terracotta colours, on which the ravages of time have left their traces: cracks in the paint and tears in the walls. Despite his restriction to detail, Dumas knows exactly how to reproduce the sphere of the decayed glory of this beautiful city.
A true perfectionist Dumas is a master in the technique of watercolours. He uses a nearly photo realistic style, with great attention to detail. His work is all about the combination of the precise and the rough. The reflections of the shadows are also important elements to create the right feeling, especially the contrasts between dark and light. The watercolours demand great technical skill and preparation. Dumas always starts working out the most difficult details and ends with the big surfaces.
From America to China Dumas is mainly inspired through his study trips, on which his sketchbook is always within reach. When he's back in Holland he holds a strict selection of all the collected material. Dumas then works out several compositions from which only a few will stand up under scrutiny. These will serve as the basis for one of his big worked out watercolours. In this way series were made around his trips to America, China, France and Italy. In every piece he knows exactly how to catch the specific sphere of a country.
