It is 125 years since the creation of Horadam Watercolours. The history of the Schmincke art materials company since then includes two world wars in Germany, many generations of family and some technological breakthroughs. This year they are celebrating their anniversary by adding 35 colours to the beautiful Horadam Watercolour range.
125 Years of Schmincke Horadam Watercolours
The Schmincke art materials company was founded in 1881 after the acquisition of the recipes of Cesare Mussini after he had died in Florence. Mussini was a painter in the tradition of the old masters and keeper of precious resin-oil-colour formulas. The first product they produced was the Mussini finest resin-oil colour. In 1892 Josef Horadam, one of the founders of the company, developed a breakthrough in watercolour technology and received the first patent for watercolours. With this, Schmincke were at the forefront of watercolour painting’s increasing popularity. Later Dr. Julius Hesse, nephew of Josef Horadam, became a partner in the business. By 1917 the company was run by Julius Hesse, the original owners H. Schmincke and J. Horadam having died. Four generations of the Hesse family ran Schmincke until 1971 and today it is still owned by the family.
During the First World War the Schmincke company buildings were used as a military hospital and suffered no damage. Julius Hesse served in the army as major of artillery, his wife Gerta Hesse and Louise Horadam work as Red Cross nurses. In 1926 German painter Otto Dix painted a portrait of Julius Hesse while living for some time in his house and today the painting is in the Museum of Art in Stuttgart. In 1932 reacting to a speech by Adolf Hitler in Dusseldorf, Ernst Oswald Hesse was sent to New York by his father Julius Hesse to build up the production of watercolours and oil colours in cooperation with their former sales partner Max Grumbacher. World War II brought production to a standstill as the factory was completely destroyed. Two years later the factory was rebuilt in Dusseldorf.
Over the years the company has updated the range as new technology was developed. During 1950 to 1956 they introduced the concept for Horadam watercolour boxes, in 1996 they revised all 110 Horadam watercolours, in 2007 they developed a wide range of watercolour mediums and now in 2017 on the occasion of the 125th anniversary, the Horadam colour range has been enlarged to 140 colours.
Schmincke have used an owl logo since their founding.
This shows the design changes made to the logo over the many years of the company.
The Special Characteristics of Horadam Watercolours
The performance of Schmincke Horadam Watercolours comes from the high-quality ingredients and the formula which includes the optimal amount of ox gall to ensure the artist has a high degree of control of the paint flow, even on lightly-sized, absorbent watercolour papers.
To this day the Schmincke method of filling their watercolour pans with the same watercolour formulation that is in their paint tubes differs to the production processes of other companies, many of whom extrude a solid watercolour for their pans using a different formula from the tubes. Schmincke’s method ensures that the tube paint is just as reusable after it has dried on a palette as the colour in a pan. Originally poured into ‘buttons’ and then later poured into pans, the production of Horadam watercolour pans takes four pours in a liquid state over a 3-5 month period, allowing the colour to dry for some weeks in a drying chamber to a certain degree of residual moisture and to settle between each filling. The colours chosen for the Horadam watercolour boxes are selected based on colour mixing principles, considering aesthetic aspects as well as practical use.
Adding 35 New Colours
In response to many customer requests and much market analysis, changes in the raw material market, as well as wanting to take advantage of modern pigments, Schmincke decided to enlarge and optimise the Horadam Watercolour range. After many years of research by the Schmincke lab, 35 new colours are being added to fill the harmonic colour spectrum of the Horadam range. The 35 new colours include 32 single-pigment colours and an increased use of highly lightfast pigments such as Quinacridone and Perylene. The ultramarine range has been enlarged with the long-awaited colour French Ultramarine, probably the most used colour by watercolour painters.
The 35 new colours will be in the Jackson’s warehouse in about one week, but you can pre-order them now on the Jackson’s website.
Look for more information about the new colours coming in the next week in our newsletter and on this blog.
All colours in the full range of 140 colours are available in 5ml, 15ml, Half Pan & Full Pan sizes.
Here is a detailed colour chart of the new colours.
Read our earlier post about the new Schmincke Aqua Lift-Off Medium.
Click on the underlined link to go to the current offers on the full range of the Schmincke Horadam Watercolours on the Jackson’s Art Supplies website.
Postage on orders shipped standard to mainland UK addresses is free for orders of £39.
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