JMW in the USA
The Brit. Art Establishment glorifies JMW Turner's pre-impressionism impressionistic works to such an extent that one tends to forget what a damned good painter he was. Take this example: Venice: The Dogana and San Giorgio Maggiore (1834). The hazy glare of sunshine on distant buildings shows the hand of a master. This is one of 146 works to be found in the largest retrospective of Turner's art ever held in the USA. It opened last Monday at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC and continues until 6 January 2008, then moves to Dallas Museum of Art and ends up in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Not to be missed. (Note: last time I visited the NGA's website, its font was unreadable on my PC. Coxsoft complained. Its font is now readable and its Turner page - title link - is first class. Well done.)
posted by Unknown @ 5.10.07
2 comments
2 Comments:
Turner should certainly be viewed whole. That is why he gave strict instructions for his bequest, forbidding loans of his finished pictures, a condition of his gift like all the others ignored by the Tate. www.jmwturner.org
Thank you for your comment and the link. Did you mean unfinished pictures? The reason I ask is that some of his impressionistic works look like rough sketches the artist intended to work into finished paintings, but never got round to completing.
It certainly doesn't help us appreciate this great artist when publicity is limited to his "modern" works, ignoring the wealth of traditional watercolours and landscapes in oils.
The restrospective in the USA does appear to cover all aspects of his art. If I recall correctly, 85 of the exhibits are on loan from Tate Britain. Shame the whole exhibition isn't coming to London.
Did you notice the use of a limited number of his works in a German exhibition, trying to prove he was one of the fathers of abstract art? I guess Turner would have hated such an exhibition.
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