Artlog

The first retrospective of the work of J. M. W. Turner (1775√¢‚Ǩ‚Äú1851) presented in the United States in more than forty years, this international exhibition highlights approximately 140 paintings and watercolors√¢‚Ǩ‚Äùmore than half of them from Tate Britain’s Turner Bequest√¢‚Ǩ‚Äùalong with works from other collections in Europe and North America. The artist√¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s extensive iconographic range is represented, from seascapes and topographical views to historical subjects and scenes from his imagination.

In a career that spanned more than six decades, Joseph Mallord William Turner essayed a wide range of subjects, from landscapes—a genre that he dominated for the first half of the nineteenth century in Britain—to historical and modern scenes and subjects of his own invention. A fascination with light and color characterizes his work in all media. In addition, his technical innovations, notably in watercolor, had a profound impact on subsequent artistic developments across the Channel in France, as well as in the United States.

This exhibition features many of the remarkable canvases that Turner exhibited at the Royal Academy in London√¢‚Ǩ‚Äùworks that established his reputation√¢‚Ǩ‚Äùfrom his first exhibited oil, Fishermen at Sea (1796, Tate), to the luminous The Burning of the House of Lords and Commons (1835, Philadelphia Museum of Art). The iconic Snow Storm: Hannibal and his Army Crossing the Alps (1812, Tate) is on view in the United States for the first time during this exhibition tour. Also included are the artist’s “color beginnings,” or watercolor studies for subsequently developed images, along with his finished watercolors. The exhibition is organized both thematically and chronologically, beginning with his earliest Sublime and historical landscapes and culminating with his late seascapes and light-filled canvases.