Joseph Mallord William Turner, R.A. is one of the greatest British artists. He was eccentric and reclusive, hoarded his work, leaving much of it to the nation and though a fearless innovator had a deep respect for the past.
The critic John Ruskin credited him with elevating landscape painting to the level of history painting. Monet later spoke of “doing battle with the sun” but Turner was as victorious in his expressionistic mastery of sunlight and atmosphere. His early reputation was in the established English tradition of topographical watercolors but he soon began to travel abroad, notably in France, the Rhine valley, Switzerland and Italy, where he could find more dramatic scenery. He acquired some powerful patrons, but many were baffled by his increasingly impressionistic style.
Selected artworks
Top 3 auction prices
2006
2010
2014
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Notable exhibitions
London, Tate Gallery, Turner in Germany, 23 May – 10 September 1995; travelled to Mannheim, Städtische Kunsthalle Mannheim, 26 September 1995 – 14 January 1996; Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, 25 January – 31 March 1996. Curated by Cecilia Powell.
London, Tate Gallery, Turner and Byron, 3 June – 20 September 1992. Curated by David B. Brown.
Toronto, Art Gallery of Ontario, Turner and the Sublime, 1 November 1980 – 4 January 1981; travelled to New Haven, Yale Center for British Art, 11 February – 19 April 1981; London, The British Museum, 15 May – 20 September 1981. Curated by Andrew Wilton.
Zürich, Kunsthaus Zürich, Turner und die Schweiz, 7 October 1976 – 2 January 1977. Curated by Felix Andreas Baumann and K. Seltmann.
London, Royal Academy, Turner, 1775–1851, 16 November 1974 – 2 March 1975. Curated by Andrew Wilton.
New York, The Museum of Modern Art, Turner: Imagination and Reality, 23 March – 19 June 1966. Curated by Lawrence Gowing.
Books on Turner
Andrew Wilton, Turner in his Time, New York, 1987.
Martin Butlin and Evelyn Joll, The Paintings of J.M.W.Turner, New Haven, 1984.
Walter Thornbury, The Life of J.M.W. Turner, R.A., London, 1862.