Cathy's Art Diary

Enlightening online discussion from the National Gallery around Nicola Moorby’s book on Turner and Constable. Matthew Morgan interviewed the author examining her argument that the two landscape artists were not the rivals they have been made out to be. She argues that there were very different characters who would not have been friends but that the perceived competition between them actually encouraged them to become better artists. She chose a series of pairs of paintings to compare the two artists and to examine their different approaches. There was a lively Q&A session at the end covering their relative fame at the time, their approach to the slave trade and why Constable did full scale sketches for his 6ft paintings.

Excellent online lecture from the National Gallery looking at the rivalry of the landscape artists Turner and Constable. Matthew Morgan, who had been the director of Turner’s House clearly outlined the difference between the artists both in their art works and characters. He looked sat each in turn discussing their lives and influences. He then went on to compare and contrast their work taking moments when they painted the same subject such as Stonehenge, Salisbury Cathedral and the Chain Pier in Brighton. he described how Constable created a sense of calm but Turner looked to heightened emotions. He ended by look at the famous Royal Academy show where they were showing side by side and Turner added a red buoy to a seascape on varnishing day. There were insightful Q&A sessions and I suspect more than one of the audience had recently done the National Gallery course on the artist out of doors which I had also done. This talk made an interesting postscript to the course. ...

Useful online study morning from the Wallace Collection to compliment their exhibition of watercolours by Turner and Bonington. Taking the exhibition as a starting point the morning consisted of five talks beginning with a description of the show by its curator Lucy Davis who discussed the pictures and how they entered the collection. John Bonehill from the University of Glasgow then talked about Turner and landed estates and the concept of estate portraits which I hadn’t consciously come across before. He talked about how Turner started doing these as a money spinner but developed the style into a higher form. Next was Timothy Barringer from Yale University looking at how both artists reflected the modern world and how pictures which look romantic to us also critique the changing world in which they were painted. There was a useful talk by Joyce H Townsend from the Tate taking us thought the technique of watercolour and developments in the early 19th century including the inv...

Charming small exhibition at the Wallace Collection of watercolours by J.M.W. Turner and Richard Bonington. There were just ten pictures in the show but they were beautiful and delicate. The commentary was well and clearly written covering the techniques used as well as the stories behind the pictures. I loved the pictures of Venice by Bonington, an artist I had not come across before. He was based in France and was known to admire Turner. As well as the Venice works there were pictures of Normandy. The four Turner pictures were of Yorkshire and were all done for the brother-in-law of his friend   Walter Fawkes, with who he spent holidays in the county. They felt like his version of holiday photographs and included the two men in the landscapes.   Closes 12 May 2024 Review Evening Standard

Luminous exhibition at the National Gallery of two Turner’s on loan from the Frick. The pictures look beautiful in the space and shine out from the wall. Both are pictures of harbours, Dieppe and Cologne, and from 1825. They are monumental in size and clearer than some later Turner’s. They look beautiful together from a distance but then they pull you in to look at the details such as a dog drinking from the river and a barge of belongings being unloaded. Although it is a small show the commentaries are excellent, looking at Turner’s relationship with the Old Masters and his travels. There is a good timeline of his journeys with pictures from them.   It explained how there were over 37,000 pages of drawings and watercolours in his studio when he died many of them made on his travels. Closes 19 February 2023 Review Telegraph

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 ...

Fun debate at Charleston Farmhouse as part of the Charleston Festival pitting Turner and Monet against each other in a debate format with a vote at the end. Franny Moyle, author of “The Extraordinary Life and Momentous Times of J.M.W. Turner”, spoke for Turner and talked about how ground breaking he was choosing modern subjects for his work and using new techniques.   Monet was supported by Ross King, author of “Mad Enchantment: Claude Monet and the Painting of the Water Lilies” talking about how Monet too chose new subjects and how he influenced later artists. After each author had presented their case the chair, Virginia Nicholson, oversaw a lively debate including comments and questions from the audience.   And the winner was, drum roll please, Turner!  

Amazing film on the later life of Turner. I don’t usually blog films but I think as this one is about art then I can count it. Watch out in a few entries times as I am allowing another one too! I thought this film was amazing. I loved how it recreated the Royal Academy. It gave a better understanding of how the hang worked and the relationships between the artists. It was fascinating to see the different stages of pictures as Turner worked on them and to get some idea of the physicality of his painting style. I liked the scenes of his father preparing canvasses and paint and the nod to showing how the works were shown and sold. Timothy Spall produced a masterclass in acting through grunts! By the end you felt you understood every nuance of every grunt! I must admit to shedding a tear when “The Fighting Temeraire” was recreated as a real event. It gave an idea of the sense of occasion and of real sadness at the demise of an old ship. A really artistic film worthy of a g...

Peaceful exhibition at the Halcyon Gallery of work by Ernesto Cánovas evoking Turner. I am enjoying the whole Turner thing at the moment and most interesting have been shows like this where contemporary artists are responding to the work. The commentary said these works were based on visits to the National Gallery and concentrated on small sections of colour. These pictures explored the colour and texture of Turner and consisted of mixed media and resin on wood. I loved the fact that the pattern of the wood showed through when you got close to the work adding another layer. I liked the ones which had Turner like small traces of red, blobs or thin lies, which drew the eye into the picture. Very varnishing day!

Stunning exhibition at Tate Britain looking at Turner’s work in the last 16 years of his life. The exhibition focused on how experimental Turner was in these years even though he was successful and could have sold anything he had painted. He came across as a very modern painter always looking for the next style or technique. I loved the room of square and round pictures and think “Peace – Burial at sea” was my favourite picture in the show. There was some speculation as to whether some of the new ideas were because of failing or changing eye sight but if this was the cause it created some wonderful results. I was interested to see how much Turner travelled even in later life and although he had a fascination with the past, he also engaged with the present. We look at pictures like those of the fire at the Houses of Parliament as historic works but to Turner’s audience these were contemporary events and must have felt very exciting works. Reviews Times Guard...

Fascinating exhibition at Tate Britain of work by Olafur Eliasson which seeks to represent the colour in a Turner picture in fine detail and represent it as a spectrum. Each work was a circular canvas which a hole in the middle with the colours from one picture represented round it grading from dark to light and back again. I wish the Turner or a reproduction of it had been shown with each work but I did cheat by looking them up on my phone. They did give a good idea of the colour palette used in a picture and the subtlety of tone used. However they also produced beautifully works in their own right which gave a sense of calm. Even if you have never seen a Turner these are subtle and lovely works. Review Telegraph    

Excellent morning at the National Gallery looking at Turner’s “Rain, Steam and Speed” led by Matthew Morgan. This was in their “A Longer Look” series. The talk looked at where the picture sat in Turner’s career having been painted in 1844 when he was 77. We also discussed the elements of the picture, where it was, what the significance of that was, what the status of the railway was at the time and how it was viewed and what other pictures that it was displayed with at the Royal Academy were like. We then looked at how other artists at the time and later the Impressionists treated trains. Then finally after some time looking at the picture itself we came back to discuss how it fitted into the idea of the sublime landscape. I am only just really starting to look at Turner’s having found them rather a mass of grey and brown till now. This talk was really helpful in showing me how to look more carefully at the work and think of it in the context of its own time not ours....

Lovely exhibition at the National Maritime Museum looking at Turner’s sea paintings. It is well worth taking the audio tour as it adds lots of context, both historic and contemporary. I liked the touch of interviewing life boat men and fishermen to listen to next to relevant pictures. However it is also good at explaining how the pictures were viewed at the time what stage of the Napoleonic war pictures were painted at. Most importantly thought these were stunning pictures and all the better for seeing them in the flesh as you could see the minimal brush stokes which sometimes made up the waves and the thickness of the white paint denoting the crests of waves. The sense of light in them was stunning and I had never thought of clouds being back lit by the sun before. I particularly liked the section on the Battle of Trafalgar including Turners huge picture of the aftermath. I would have been there at the time in the queue to see what was not just a picture but also a t...