J. M. W. Turner

Joseph Mallord William Turner (born in Covent Garden, London on April 23 1775 (exact date disputed), died December 19 1851) was an English Romantic landscape artist, whose style can be said to lay the foundations for Impressionism.

Style

Turner's talent was recognized early in his life, becoming a full art academician at the age of 23. Financial independence allowed Turner to innovate and create paintings that astonished many. According to David Piper's The Illustrated History of Art, his later pictures were called "fantastic puzzles." However, Turner was still recognized as an artistic genius: influential English art critic John Ruskin described Turner as the artist who could most "stirringly and truthfully measure the moods of Nature." (Piper 321)

Related Topics:
Academician - John Ruskin

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Like most Romanticists, the awesome power of nature was a consistent motif in Turner's works. He focused on the violent power of the sea, as seen in Dawn after the Wreck (1840) and The Slave-Ship (1840).

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His first works, such as Tintern Abbey (1795) and Venice: S. Giorgio Maggiore (1819), stayed true to the traditions of English landscape. However, in Hannibal Crossing the Alps (1812), his emphasis on the destructive power of nature had already come into play. Turner perfected his technique to develop the theme through his years. His distinctive style of painting, in which he used watercolor technique with oil paints, created lightness, fluency, and dissappearing atmospheric effects. (Piper 321)

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In his late years, he used oils even less, and turned to almost pure light with shimmering color. Examples of his later style can be seen in Rain, Steam and Speed - The Great Western Railway, where the objects are barely recognizable.

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Turner, along with John Constable, was at the forefront of English painting by his later years, and both were popular in France as well. Impressionists carefully studied his techniques, although they sought to diminish the power of his paintings. In the modern art era, advocates of abstract art were also influenced by Turner.

Related Topics:
John Constable - Modern art - Abstract art

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