Impressionism through the eyes of J.M.W. Turner
In a series of articles dedicated to different art movements, I will help the reader to gain an insight into the basic concepts of art, painting techniques and how to read and feel art. This article will be dedicated to J.M.W. Turner, one of the greatest British impressionists of 19th century and a master of evoking emotions of the viewer through his work.
In an art movement of impressionism [1], a specific mood or “impression” is something that an artist tries to transmit to the viewer as he creates his artwork. By not concerning himself with the visual accuracy of details but attempting to convey situations as they are felt in the passing moment, artists are able to create an impact on the viewer, which makes his work unique and special. This is usually achieved through the use of different techniques and styles, helping an artist to provoke an emotional response from the viewer, catch his attention and impress him with the intensity and depth of the scenery and atmosphere created.
Joseph Mallord William Turner, baptised 14 May 1775 and lived until 19 December 1851, was a British Romantic landscape painter, water-colourist and print maker. Since Turner was ten years old, as a result of “a fit of illness” in the family, he lived with his maternal uncle, Joseph Mallord William Marshall, in Brentford. Afterwards, he moved to a small town on the banks of the River Thames, west of London and then he was sent to Margate on the north-east Kent coast. Turner returned often to the Margate later in his life, foreshadowing his later work. Until 1789 Turner lived with his uncle in Oxford, where he was able to practice pencil drawings and sketches, which was a foundation for his later finished paintings and helped to shape his later working style for his whole artistic career.
Turner showed a keen interest in architecture, and many early sketches of his were architectural studies and/or exercises in perspective; later he was advised to continue painting by an architect Thomas Hardwick. At the age of 15, in 1789, Turner was accepted into the Royal Academy of Art. His first watercolour painting “A View of the Archbishop’s Palace, Lambeth” was accepted for the Royal Academy summer exhibition of 1790.
His distinctive style of painting, in which he used translucent watercolour [2] technique applied to oil painting [3], helped him to create lightness, fluency, and ephemeral [4] atmospheric effects in his later works, marking this phase in Turner’s career as the most emotional and intense. To achieve this he used oil paints more transparently and explored the creation of the pure light in his paintings by the use of shimmering tones. He turned away from photographic representation of objects and scenes into barely recognisable depiction of the atmospheres. This can be seen in the painting “Rain Steam and Speed the Great Western Railway”(1844) where Turner used very intense colours and vanishing light that fills in the whole painting, making it overwhelming and very emotional, reflecting the great power of nature and contrasting it with man-made machines.
Another great painting that illustrates the power of impressionism is one of the most successful Turner’s works, “Snow Storm — Steam-Boat off a Harbour’s Mouth Story”. It is rumoured that Turner tied himself to the mast of a ship during a storm to feel himself the power of the wind and ocean and what a ship must have felt being in the middle of the vertex of the storm. Of course, there is no proof about the trustworthiness of the rumor, but this, and many other examples clearly show that Turner had a great connection with artwork, put his soul and heart into it, so that the viewer can clearly grasp the atmosphere of the moment. The size of the painting is quite impressive 91.40cm x 121.90cm, which when you see it in real life makes you feel engaged, right in the midst of the scene, the ocean overwhelming you with its power and strength.
The main purpose of impressionism, and in particular Turner’s main goal, is to make you feel something strong and emotional about a painting. Usually there’s depth to the layers and colours that an artist uses, that can only be understood when looked from a far, and felt only when you come closer, spotting smaller and unique details that come together into a whole, exciting and touching picture.
Next article- Turner’s inspiration, French impressionist Claude Monet
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Annex
1 Impressionism- A theory or style of painting originating and developed in France during the 1870s, characterized by
2 Watercolour technique- also aquarelle from French, is a painting method, which involves transparent and layered painting of very diluted (watered) colours on paper.
3 Oil painting- the most traditional and difficult painting technique; there are many different varieties of painting using oil, mainly involving painting while the paint is still wet which allows very detailed and vivid paintings to be created; one of the most famous artworks done in oil paints are “Mona Lisa” by Leonardo da Vinci or “the Starry Night” by Vincent van Gogh.
4 Ephemeral- lasting for only a short time; transitory; short-lived
