JMW Turner - Landscape Artist (1775 - 1851)

Turner was an English Romanticist landscape painter, water-colourist and printmaker. He was considered a controversial figure in his day, but is now regarded as the artist who elevated landscape painting  to an eminence rivalling history painting (1).  

The Snowstorm

Although renowned for his oil paintings, Turner is also one of the greatest masters of British watercolour landscape painting. He is commonly known as "the painter of light" because of his increasing interest in brilliant colours as the main constituent in his landscape and seascapes(2)



Turner and his fellow romantic painters of this time, such as Blake, Constable and Freidrich wanted to use their imagination and expression in their work unlike the works produced at this time which could be described as unemotional, and a matter of fact document of reality, artistic flourishes were frowned upon. This new group of painters wanted to depict emotions such as fear, love, desolation. Turners 'Snowstorm' depicts an atmospheric swirling mass of lashing wind, spray, sea and smoke which captures the ships stubble in the heart of a storm. The loose brushstrokes spontaneous and could be described as impressionistic.

The Burning of the House of Lords and Commons

How he has influenced my work:
The painterly and looseness of his approach to his work is inspiring. The free brush stokes in which you can feel the emotion and energy he transposes into his work is masterful. His clever use of colour and light add a depth and movement to his work adds an energy that takes you into the painting, dare I try and emulate !!?? I want to use this energy he has in my skies, I want to capture movement and light. The colour mixing and interesting placement of just one bright mark which completely pulls the whole image together is fantastic. For me its the energy and movement in his oils that really inspire, evoking an emotion from the viewer this is the trick!


Reference:
1.     Lacayo, Richard (11 October 2007). The Sunshine Boy
2      Joseph Mallord William Turner. National Gallery. Retrieved 2014-09-03 
http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/artists/joseph-mallord-william-turner
http://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-1775-1851-r1141041
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/610274/JMW-Turner
http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2008/aug/05/turnerssimplytooradiantfor
http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/sep/08/late-turner-tate-britain-review