J.M. W. Turner: The Making of a Modern Artist

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J.M. W. Turner: The Making of a Modern Artist

Sam Smiles

Manchester University Press 2007

H/b, 240pp, 39 b&w ill

ISBN 9780719077081

In 2006-7, a small exhibition curated by Ian Warrell at Tare Britain, Norham Castle, Sunrise: From Incomprehension to Icon, highlighted the critical shift which had taken place in Turner studies over the course of 150 years. The unfinished oil painting Norham Castle: Sunrise (c1845) is now one of the artist's most famous and popular images, but, remained uncatalogued and forgotten for 50 years after Turner's death. Along with 20 other canvases, its hazy forms, luminous colours and unresolved details lay neglected in the basement of the National Gallery until 1906 when the picture was 'rediscovered' and displayed for the first time in the new Turner room at the Tate. This exhibition marked a change in public perception. …