J. M. W. Turner The making of a modern artist [Hardcover]

Alone of his contemporaries, J.M.W. Turner is commonly held to have prefigured modern painting, as signalled in the existence of The Turner Prize for contemporary art. Our celebration of his achievement is very different to what Victorian critics made of his art. This book shows how Turner was reinvented to become the artist we recognise today.

On Turner's death in 1851 he was already known as an adventurous, even baffling, painter. But when the Court of Chancery decreed that the contents of his studio should be given to the nation, another side of his art was revealed that effected a wholescale change in his reputation. This book acts as a guide to the reactions of art writers and curators from the 1850s to the 1960s as they attempted to come to terms with his work. It documents how Turner was interpreted and how his work was displayed in Britain, in Europe and in North America, concentrating on the ways in which his artistic identity was manipulated by art writers, by curators at the Tate and by designers of exhibitions for the British Council and other bodies.

Introduction pages 1-12

Chapter One Legacies and reputations pages 13-63

Chapter Two Taking Turner's measure - posthumous exhibitions and writings pages 64-112

Chapter Three Turner and modern criticism, c. 1890-1970 pages 113-162

Chapter Four Turner at the Tate pages 163-203

Chapter Five Turner abroad: the British Council and other exhibitions pages 204-246

Chapter Six Turner in the 1960s pages 247-271

Bibliography pages 272-281

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

1.1 Snowstorm: Steam Boat off a Harbour's Mouth making Signals in Shallow Water, and going by the Lead. The Author was in this Storm on the Night the Ariel left Harwich (1842), oil on canvas, 91.5 x 122. Clore Gallery for the Turner Collection. Bequest of the artist 1856.

1.2 Thomson's ?olian Harp(1809), oil on canvas, 166.7 x 306, City Art Galleries, Manchester.

1.3 Popels±