It is no easy task to
chart the career of the most important marine painter of his or any generation,
but this is a “must see” exhibition for anyone interested in the sea. It
evokes the golden age of marine painting.
As a marine artist and
member of the National Maritime Museum Art Club, I feel “Turner and the Sea” at
the Museum presents a priceless opportunity to see Turner’s iconic marine work.
In particular, I found it is very exciting to see his unfinished
watercolour sketches. Some have never been exhibited before. Turner
produced many such sketches, exploring a thought or a fleeting moment. Often
they were not developed further but they give a tantalizing snapshot of his
thinking.
Several other things stand
out to make this exhibition remarkable. Perhaps the most surprising
is that this is the first major exhibition exclusively of Turner’s marine
work. It largely follows the chronology of Turner’s career with a
brief diversion outlining influences as diverse as van der Velde the younger,
Claude-Joseph Vernet, Richard Parks Bonington and John Constable. Many ‘A’ list
Turner marine paintings are also on display including early narrative beach and
fishermen compositions, his numerous storm and tempest paintings including,
“Calais Pier” painted in 1803, “The Shipwreck” painted in 1805 and the
highly experimental “Rockets and Blue lights” of 1840, an impressionist
painting, thirty years before the term existed.
Familiar and previously
unseen paintings are also there. The majestic “Trafalgar”, commissioned
by George IV, is not my favourite, nor was it in some of his critics’, eyes.
“The Fighting Temeraire was however, voted the Nation’s favourite
painting in 2005. It may be factually incorrect, but it is full of
symbolism and part of Great Britain’s artistic DNA.
Bravo to Christine Riding,
curator of the show. “Splice the mainbrace”!
Kevin Clarkson, Vice-Chairman National Maritime Museum Art
Club
Edited by Ann
Whitehead National Maritime Museum Art
Club
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