Turner's Modern World

Fascinating exhibition at Tate Britain looking at how Turner painted contemporary life.

We often look at Turner as an Old Master, which of course he is, and forget than he was painting the contemporary life of his times, commenting on wars and recording new inventions and ideas. Although these works are history to us, they weren’t to him.

The show was nicely arranged in chronological themes with the dates of the main events painted around the top of the room. I loved the works which acted as reporting such as a painting of a theatre the morning after a fire. I was scathing at first of his Battle of Trafalgar picture but then read about the research he did to paint it and it was moving to see his sketch books of his visit to the ship and to read about him interviewing veterans of the battle.

It is easy to forget that Britain was at war with France for much of Turner’s career and it was interesting to see his works which reflected the effect of this on home front both in terms of the industries which grew up to support the army and the effect on agriculture. It was also interesting to see his works to support causes and campaigns such as the abolition of slavery and electoral reform. It was super to see “Rain, Steam and Speed” shown with a model of the train in the picture.

The final room looked at how Turner experimented with different techniques in his own work from oddly shaped pictures to experimenting with painting the effects of light and atmosphere. You really get a sense of being in a different world by the end of the show than you were in at the start. 

Closes 12 September 2021

Reviews

Guardian

Telegraph


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year Exhibition 2019

Image
Delightful exhibition at Clarendon Fine Art showing pictures from the Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year TV series. I had loved the series which had set nine artists, both professional and amateur, to paint one of three celebrities. It then had a semi-final and final with them all looking at one sitter and in the final they also took on a commission. I loved the way you watched a picture build and how some were then made or spoiled by one stroke of paint.   Finding these pictures I knew so well in the flesh was therefore fascinating. None of them disappointed. My favourite artist from the final, Tom Mead, works looked just as good in real life if not better as you could see the detail. The show included his impressive self-portrait which he submitted to enter the competition, a wonderful fragmented picture of his reflection in a mirror giving a sense of movement. I loved that it included a large version of him and a miniature. His commission for the final of Jazzie B was
Read more

Thomas Becket: Murder and Making of a Saint

Image
Stunning exhibition at the British Museum on the life and afterlife of Thomas Becket. I studied Becket both at A Level and at university so I was really looking forward to this show and it did not disappoint. From walking in to see an old friend, the early Limoges casket showing the murder from the Victoria and Albert Museum, I was gripped. The show told the story well using fantastic objects and led you through his life, the murder, the political aftermath, his sainthood and miracles, and how Canterbury became a major pilgrimage site. It is hard to pick out the best objects as so many were wonderful. I loved that they had early copies of some of the five eyewitness accounts of the murder which made you fell you were almost touching the event. I liked the manuscript on his time in exile which was almost like a comic strip. How wonderful to get a 13th century font from Sweden which shows how far and how quickly the news that Henry II had integrated the murder spread. I think my
Read more

Courtauld summer school day 1

Image
Today has been my first day of this year’s week at the Courtauld Institute’s summer schools. This year I am doing “Painting in Renaissance Venice” which is being led by Michael Douglas-Scott. It was nice to see some familiar faces and there are at least five of us who did Michael’s course last year. Today has been two lectures. Firstly setting out the background of Venice in this period looking at how the city had set up a myth of itself, the role of the Doge. the nature of the Republic and the role of citizens. The second lecture looked at why the nature of Renaissance was different in Venice. There was still a sense of the coming of antiquity and humanism but in Venice it fused with the Gothic and Byzantine rather than replacing it. The day ended with a choice of gallery talks. I went to one on the second floor of the Courtauld on the coming of Modernism. In essence it looked at the Impressionists and discussed what they were reacting against and what themes they portrayed. All in a
Read more