As consumers of art, it can sometimes be easy to get caught up in the whirlwind of contemporary art we see all around us. However, it can sometimes be useful (or even enjoyable) to take a step back and witness what has brought us to the present day: the indelible contributions and legacies artists have forged that have been the catalyst for so much change and innovation. The exhibit on J.M.W. Turner, at the AGO from October 31 to January 31, allowed me to do just that. J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851) was one such catalyst of artistic revolution. Turner, a watercolour and oil painter, is now regarded as one of the most original artists Britain has ever known.
The AGO exhibit, organized by Tate Britain Gallery of London, displays an array of Turner’s paintings from the early beginnings of his career to his very last works. Described in the exhibit’s preface as “emotionally charged scenes set in nature,” Turner’s works are mainly landscapes accentuated by his brilliant use of lighting and colour.
Here at UofT, we were fortunate enough to have curator Sarah Robayo Sheridan talk about the Turner exhibit at the University of Toronto Art Centre (UTAC), located in Hart House Circle. One Turner piece has been part of the UofT collection since 1932. It is considered one of Turner’s greatest works (it is not displayed at the AGO exhibit itself) and was showcased for only one hour. The piece is entitled Pembroke Castle: Clearing Up of a Thunderstorm, a beautiful rendering of a castle by the sea focusing on a fisherman by the shore. Sheridan stated that this piece took “watercolour to a new level,” highlighting Turner’s artistic innovation.
The exhibit at the AGO begins with a look at some of Turner’s early paintings, which he called “samples.” These are small-scale works: all watercolour on paper depicting mostly bodies of water. While they may seem repetitive, these works were obviously made with a certain effect in mind. The blending of green, blue, and yellow in Turner’s watercolours creates a dreamy, foggy atmosphere that is hard to look away from.
Next, the exhibit focuses on Turner’s “Venice” era. The artist greatly admired Venice and its aesthetic, and many of his works depict the Italian city in different styles: some realistic, others experimental. These works feel very different from the previous shadowy “sample” era—as they are all oil paintings—but Turner’s colour scheme seems to remain the same, with a special accent on yellows and greens. Amongst the paintings, small TV screens showed excerpts of Mr. Turner, the 2014 biopic directed by Mike Leigh which retraces the last 25 years of Turner’s career. He was mostly shown painting vigorously, splattering paint onto a canvas using different brushes, which seemed to be an accurate portrayal of his process.
The final part of the exhibit focused especially on the last 15 years of Turner’s career. By then, he had gained notoriety as a groundbreaking visual artist. One of his contemporaries, composer Claude Debussy, called him “the finest creator of mystery in the whole of art.” Illustrious artists like Claude Monet studied under him, admiring his brush strokes and use of atmosphere in oil painting. Turner’s use of bright and dark colours created a stark contrast to his compositions, which made his works immediately striking. The blurry edges of the figures he painted made it hard to identify the subject matter, and I marvelled at the pieces, wondering what they could be representing—yet ultimately feeling that they were familiar. My 12-year-old brother, who accompanied me to the exhibit, articulated my thoughts when he stopped in front of Snow Storm: Steam-Boat off a Harbour’s Mouth and said: “It looks like a universe.”
Turner was seen as an innovator by his peers, and to no surprise: he was almost a century ahead of his contemporaries. Many of them sought to find Turner’s “secret”: where did his genius come from? The answer to this question is the concluding note to the exhibit, a direct quote from Turner: “The only secret I have is damned hard work.”
