J.M.W. Turner : painting set free

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-- Painting set free

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When the prolific British painter Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851) died at the age of 76, his contemporaries held a generally negative view of his recent work, describing it as indulgent, eccentric, and even repulsive. But over the past century, a number of curators and critics have reassessed Turner's late paintings. Instead of finding his employment of shimmering color to evoke light unpleasant or unskilled, they have seen it as a precursor to the Impressionists and consider his use of abstraction to be distinctly modern. In this elegantly conceived volume, leading experts on Turner consider these contrasting views of the artist in a groundbreaking exploration of his paintings. They examine his notes and sketchbooks to determine whether his health may have impacted his art and how Victorian views of old age influenced perceptions of the elderly artist. They also question the notion that Turner's late work articulated a conclusive, radical vision heedless of public reaction, for evidence makes clear that he had a firm idea of the art market in his day.

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Summary Note

When the prolific British painter Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851) died at the age of 76, his contemporaries held a generally negative view of his recent work, describing it as indulgent, eccentric, and even repulsive. But over the past century, a number of curators and critics have reassessed Turner's late paintings. Instead of finding his employment of shimmering color to evoke light unpleasant or unskilled, they have seen it as a precursor to the Impressionists and consider his use of abstraction to be distinctly modern. In this elegantly conceived volume, leading experts on Turner consider these contrasting views of the artist in a groundbreaking exploration of his paintings. They examine his notes and sketchbooks to determine whether his health may have impacted his art and how Victorian views of old age influenced perceptions of the elderly artist. They also question the notion that Turner's late work articulated a conclusive, radical vision heedless of public reaction, for evidence makes clear that he had a firm idea of the art market in his day.

General Note

"This publication is issued on the occasion of the exhibition J.M.W. Turner: Painting Set Free, which is on view at Tate Britain (with the title Late Turner: Painting Set Free) from September 10, 2014 to January 25, 2015; at the J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center, Los Angeles, from February 24 to May 24, 2015, and at the de Young, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, from June 20 to September 20, 2015"--Title page verso.

Content Note

Essays. Turner in and out of time / Sam Smiles -- The later life of Turner : body and mind / Brian Livesley -- 'Born again' : old and new in Turner's later work / David Blayney Brown -- 'Ain't they worth more? : Turner's later watercolours / Amy Concannon -- Materials, technique and condition in Turner's later paintings / Rebecca Hellen and Joyce H. Townsend -- Catalogue. Decline and fall : Turner's old age and his early biographers / Sam Smiles -- Turner elsewhere : travel and tours 1835-45 / Nicola Moorby -- 'Poetical' or 'preposterous'? history painting / David Blayney Brown -- Turner and modern history / Sam Smiles -- Squaring the circle : new formats from 1840 / David Blayney Brown -- Horizons : sea and sky / Amy Concannon -- Reflection and retrospect / David Blayney Brown -- Chronology : J.M.W Turner 1835-51.