Syndetics cover image
Image from Syndetics

Turner : the extraordinary life and momentous times of J.M.W. Turner / Franny Moyle.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : Penguin Press, 2016Copyright date: ©2016Description: xii, 508 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 24 cmContent type:
  • text
  • still image
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9780735220928
  • 0735220921
Subject(s): Genre/Form:
Contents:
Admiral Booth -- The beginning -- "A pleasant good tempered youth, not fond of society" -- A bee of the same hive -- The most liberal encouragers of watercolour art -- M'lord Turner -- "W Turner called" -- Gothick -- Charitable relief -- Politics -- Adventure -- A little reptile -- Reimagined pasts -- The eye and the intellect -- The overturner -- Summertimes -- Waterloo -- Earth and heaven -- In search of the King -- Brilliance -- Industry -- Indistinct, unintelligible, unstoppable -- To please himself -- "The morning march that flashes to the sun; the feast of vultures when the day is done" -- Epilogue.
Summary: The extraordinary life of J.M.W Turner, one of Britain's most admired, misunderstood and celebrated artists. Turner is Britain's most famous landscape painter. Yet beyond his artistic achievements, little is known of the man himself and the events of his life: the tragic committal of his mother to a lunatic asylum, the personal sacrifices he made to effect his stratospheric rise, and the bizarre double life he chose to lead in the last years of his life. A near-mythical figure in his own lifetime, Franny Moyle tells the story of the man who was considered visionary at best and ludicrous at worst.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library Biography Turner, J. M938 Available 33111008501757
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

The life of one of Western art's most admired and misunderstood painters

J.M.W. Turner is one of the most important figures in Western art, and his visionary work paved the way for a revolution in landscape painting. Over the course of his lifetime, Turner strove to liberate painting from an antiquated system of patronage. Bringing a new level of expression and color to his canvases, he paved the way for the modern artist.

Turner was very much a man of his changing era. In his lifetime, he saw Britain ravaged by Napoleonic wars, revived by the Industrial Revolution, and embarked upon a new moment of Imperial glory with the ascendancy of Queen Victoria. His own life embodied astonishing transformation. Born the son of a barber in Covent Garden, he was buried amid pomp and ceremony in St. Paul's Cathedral.

Turner was accepted into the prestigious Royal Academy at the height of the French Revolution when a climate of fear dominated Britain. Unable to travel abroad he explored at home, reimagining the landscape to create some of the most iconic scenes of his country. But his work always had a profound human element. When a moment of peace allowed travel into Europe, Turner was one of the first artists to capture the beauty of the Alps, to revive Venice as a subject, and to follow in Byron's footsteps through the Rhine country.

While he was commercially successful for most of his career, Turner's personal life remained fraught. His mother suffered from mental illness and was committed to Bedlam. Turner never married but had several long-term mistresses and illegitimate daughters. His erotic drawings were numerous but were covered up by prurient Victorians after his death.

Turner's late, impressionistic work was held up by his Victorian detractors as example of a creeping madness. Affection for the artist's work soured. John Ruskin, the greatest of all 19th century art critics, did what he could to rescue Turner's reputation, but Turner's very last works confounded even his greatest defender.

TURNER humanizes this surprising genius while placing him in his fascinating historical context. Franny Moyle brilliantly tells the story of the man to give us an astonishing portrait of the artist and a vivid evocation of Britain and Europe in flux.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Admiral Booth -- The beginning -- "A pleasant good tempered youth, not fond of society" -- A bee of the same hive -- The most liberal encouragers of watercolour art -- M'lord Turner -- "W Turner called" -- Gothick -- Charitable relief -- Politics -- Adventure -- A little reptile -- Reimagined pasts -- The eye and the intellect -- The overturner -- Summertimes -- Waterloo -- Earth and heaven -- In search of the King -- Brilliance -- Industry -- Indistinct, unintelligible, unstoppable -- To please himself -- "The morning march that flashes to the sun; the feast of vultures when the day is done" -- Epilogue.

The extraordinary life of J.M.W Turner, one of Britain's most admired, misunderstood and celebrated artists. Turner is Britain's most famous landscape painter. Yet beyond his artistic achievements, little is known of the man himself and the events of his life: the tragic committal of his mother to a lunatic asylum, the personal sacrifices he made to effect his stratospheric rise, and the bizarre double life he chose to lead in the last years of his life. A near-mythical figure in his own lifetime, Franny Moyle tells the story of the man who was considered visionary at best and ludicrous at worst.

Powered by Koha