J. M. W. Turner

English painter and draftsman (c.1775-1851) · United Kingdom · Artists · Died at 76

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He painted light itself dissolving form - storms, fires, steam - until the subject almost vanished into color and atmosphere. Turner's late canvases baffled his contemporaries but planted the seed for Impressionism and abstraction decades before either existed.

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A life in dates

1851Died19 December 18511842“If I could find anything blacker than black, I'd use it.”In their wordsQuote of Turner, c. 1842-43; as cited by Philip Gilbert Hamerton (1879) The Life of J. M. W. Turner, R. A. p. 296Read the whole statement

1840“Painting can never show her nose in company with architecture without being snubbed.”In their wordsQuote c. 1840; as cited by by Vol. 1, (1860), p. 208; as quoted in The Life of J. M. W. Turner - Founded on Letters and Papers Furnished byRead the whole statement

1830“Dear Jones.. [I] give you some account of.. ..the last sad ceremonies paid yesterday to departed talent gone to that bourne from whence no traveller returns.”In their wordsFebruary 1830Quote from Turner's letter, London Feb. 1830, to his friend George Jones in Rome; as cited in 'The life of J.M.W. Turner', Volume II,Read the whole statement

1828“Dear Jones, - Two months nearly in getting to this Terra Pictura, and at work; but the length of time is my own fault.”In their words13 October 1828Quote in Turner's letter from Rome, 13 Oct. 1828 to his friend George Jones; as cited in The Life of J. M. W. Turner R.A. , WalterRead the whole statement

1806“Well, Gaffer [his early friend Mr. Wells, artist] I see there will be no peace till I comply; so give me a piece of paper.”In their wordsQuote of Turner, c. 1806?; told by Mr Wells' daughter, Mrs. Wheeler; included in The life of J.M.W. Turner, Volume II, George WalterRead the whole statement

1795“My dear Sir, [Mr. Trimmer] - I lament that all hope of the pleasure of seeing you, or getting to Heston, must for the present probably vanish. My father told me..”In their wordsQuote from Turner's letter to Mr. Trimmer; as cited in The Life of J. M. W. Turner R.A., George Walter Thornbury - A new Edition, Revised;Read the whole statement

1775Born23 April 1775

Also in Deutsch

Photos 8

Joseph Mallord William Turner auto-retrato

Catalogue of the Ehrich Galleries collection of valuable paintings - by the masters of the classic Italian, Dutch, Flemish, English, Spanish, and French schools (1905) (14593450398)

Catalogue of the Ehrich Galleries collection of valuable paintings - by the masters of the classic Italian, Dutch, Flemish, English, Spanish, and French schools (1905) (14593490118)

Catalogue of the highly important collection of modern pictures and water colour drawings of the English and continental schools of Stephen G. Holland (1908) (14597704099)

Catalogue of the highly important collection of modern pictures and water colour drawings of the English and continental schools of Stephen G. Holland (1908) (14761375406)

Conway Castle, North Wales(112201)

Croquis Église William Turner Sacristie Église Saint Georges - Saint-Georges-de-Reneins (FR69) - 2021-07-16 - 1

DV307 no.70 House where Turner was born, from a print

In their own words 10

J. M. W. Turner

10 statements, newest first

If I could find anything blacker than black, I'd use it.
1842, Quote of Turner, c. 1842-43; as cited by Philip Gilbert Hamerton (1879) The Life of J. M. W. Turner, R. A. p. 296, Own words
Painting can never show her nose in company with architecture without being snubbed.
1840, Quote c. 1840; as cited by by Vol. 1, (1860), p. 208; as quoted in The Life of J. M. W. Turner - Founded on Letters and Papers Furnished by, Own words
He John Ruskin knows a great deal more about my pictures than I do; he puts things into my head, and points out meanings in them that I never intended.
1840, Quote of Turner, c. 1840's; as cited by George Walter Thornbury, in The life of J.M.W. Turner, Volume II; Hurst and Blackett Publishers,, Own words

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About this person

Born in 1775 to a modest Covent Garden family, Turner was a child prodigy who enrolled at the Royal Academy at 14 and exhibited at 15. He built a career on commissions and his own gallery, travelled Europe filling sketchbooks, and became a professor of perspective - all while keeping his lower-class accent and avoiding the trappings of success. Intensely private and contrary, he fathered two daughters with a widow but never married. After his father's death in 1829 his outlook darkened, his gallery fell into neglect, and the paintings grew stranger and more turbulent. By 1841 he rowed into the Thames to dodge the census; by 1845 he lived in squalor. He died in London in 1851, leaving behind more than 550 oils, 2,000 watercolours, and 30,000 works on paper - a body of work that, championed by Ruskin, elevated landscape painting to rival history painting and made him the greatest painter England ever produced.

Country

United Kingdom

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