Turner’s lights and colors on exhibit
By NATHALIE LAVILLE
Observer staff
Oct. 11, 2007
Images courtesy National Gallery of Art.
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Three ways to contemplate J.M.W Turner
* Turner’s use of light: Where does the light come from? Are there many sources of light in the painting? How does the perspective and the construction of the painting relate to light?
* Turner’s transcription of details: How are figures represented so precisely and with a lot of detail while the rest of the painting seems shrouded in indistinctness?
* Turner’s imagination: Which works seem to represent reality? Which others seem to come from Turner’s fantasy? What is the topic related to the work?
British painter Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851) stands out for his landscape paintings. He’s known as a forerunner of impressionism, exploring innovative techniques.
Known as “the painter of light,” he played with colors and lights to convey his feelings inspired by the age of enlightenment.
His use of sun as the only source of light illuminating his paintings was said to have influenced the French painter Monet, especially in his work Impression, Sunrise, from which the term “Impressionism” originates.
Turner was born in Covent Garden, London in 1775. His father was a barber. He was only 14 when he enrolled in the school of the Royal Academy of Arts. After one year, the Royal Academy chose his work for its summer exhibit. At the age of 26, he became the youngest Royal Academic. Five years later he was a professor of perspective.
Some 146 works by Turner are gathered for this exhibit, thanks to the Tate Britain museum in London, that lent a lot of the paintings.
The exhibit “J.M.W. Turner” willl show through January 6 at the National Gallery of Art.
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