Turner From The Tate

I flew to Adelaide to catch the last weekend of the Turner exhibition - it was well worth the effort and I highly recommend it to our members. To late for Lovely Adelaide now, you'll have to go to Freezing Canberra and run the risk of seeing a politician in its natural habitat. Hang a clove of garlic round your neck just in case.

Scarborough Town and Castle:
Morning, Boys Catching Crabs

Before setting off for Our Nation's Capital, I suggest you borrow the DVD Simon Schama's Power of Art, which is available at all branches of the Nunawading, Monash and Eastern Region library services. The episode about Turner gives a special perception into the painter's bizarre private life, the psychological and emotional pressures that shaped his art and the way he worked. Viewing the exhibition, the experience was enhanced for me by the insight I gained from Simon Schama's interpretation.

The Wrecked Female Convict Ship Amphitrite:
Women and Children Abandoned in a Gale

Schama highlighted the dramatic picture The Slave Ship, which he considers Turner's masterpiece. Sadly, this highly charged emotional work was not included in the exhibition, but we did see Disaster At Sea, (alias The Wrecked Female Convict Ship Amphitrite: Women and Children Abandoned in a Gale) which is perhaps more appropriate for Australia, depicting as it does the shipwreck off the French coast of a convict ship bound for Botany Bay, with 150 women and children on board. When the ship foundered, the French offered to evacuate the passengers, but the captain refused, saying his orders were to take them to Australia and he is not allowing them to set foot in France. Only three survived, the episode causing a huge scandal at the time. Turner poured a lot of rage and frustration into the huge painting, emotions that fairly boil off the canvas and stops the viewer in their tracks.  

Burial At Sea

 

I would have loved to see The Fighting Temeraire, but that was perhaps too much to hope for! The Tate wasn't going to take any chances with their number one attraction. As it is, the 100 works in this exhibition were flown out to Australia in small batches and in secrecy.  Failing The Fighting Temeraire, we saw Burial At Sea, which also juxtaposes steam and sail, with similar lighting effects of sky, sun and sea - the trademark Turner Effect.

Venice: the Bridge of Sighs

Turner's powerful seascapes full of brilliant light and dramatic skies always spring to mind when his name is mentioned, but this collection also contains some wonderful landscapes, painted in London and Wales, in Venice, in Rome and in the Swiss Alps.

Venice by Moonlight

Unconventional as Turner was for his time, he also painted some of the "classic" scenes that were approved by the Establishment: I liked Rome, From The Vatican, Raffaele, Accompanied By La Fornarina, Preparing His Pictures For The Decoration Of The Loggia (Yes, it is all one title! He needed a ruthless Title Editor). 

Rome, From The Vatican, Raffaele,
Accompanied By La Fornarina, Preparing
His Pictures For The Decoration Of The Loggia

Dido Building Carthage reminded me so much of Claud Lorrain's Embarkation of the Queen of Sheba, that I Googled it when I got home. All great artists influence each other. Turner was clearly an admirer of Claud's work: see for yourself!

Dido Building Carthage by JWM Turner

Included in the exhibition are works held in various Australian galleries: one of my favourites is Scarborough Town And Castle, Morning: Boys Catching Crabs which belongs to the Art Gallery of SA. (See picture near the top of the page) 

The Embarkation of the Queen of Sheba by Claud Lorrain