William Turner is a British painter who created romantic, innovative landscapes in both watercolors and oil. His later works were not understood and appreciated by contemporaries. However, his work was studied deeply by Claude Monet, and the influence of this painter on the French impressionists is impossible to dispute.
Turner, artist: biography
One thing is certain: William Turner was born in London in 1775 and was baptized on May 14. Father, a barber and wig maker, at the age of 10 sent William to be raised by his uncle in the small town of Brentford, standing on the Thames. Here the boy begins to paint landscapes from nature. Father puts his watercolors in his hair salon and happily informs his clients that his son William Turner is an artist or, in any case, is going to become one.
Academy of Arts
At the age of fifteen, he passed the exams that Joshua Reynolds took, and began his studies. Turner is an artist whom he himself believed was shaped by Thomas Multon, a draftsman and topographer. But, visiting the lectures of the president of the academy, he was under the spell of idealism in art. Both Turner's first watercolor and the first oil painting, made in 1790, were exhibited at the Academy's exhibition.
The noticed work
But the most impressive was the work written in 1796. This is Fishermen at Sea. Already in this early work, one can see his favorite compositional technique, which Turner the artist will use for almost his whole life - this is an oval, as well as a theme - an image of a storm, a whirlwind and dramatic episodes that will go through all his work.
A fisherman’s boat is in danger at night. The moonlight is cold, now hiding, now appearing from the torn gloomy clouds. It contrasts with the warm light of the lanterns on the boat. But it is not clear what awaits the unfortunate on a stormy night. This very emotional marina has a big impact on Horace Vernet and many others.
Turner in Europe
Since 1802, when the painter became free in means, he has traveled to Europe. Turner visited Switzerland, France (studied at the Louvre) and forever fell in love with Venice.
Landscape painting
In the 10-20s, William Turner, an artist whose paintings are full of romance, enthusiastically worked on landscapes. He is still faithful to the traditions of the English landscape.
They are written by a passionate person who loves contrasts of color and light. He writes fluently. Sometimes complements his work with mythological scenes. In 1815, after the eruption of a volcano in Tambor (Indonesia), volcanic ash appeared in the atmosphere. As a result, interesting optical effects arose. Sunsets served as a source of inspiration for the painter.
The bright colors of autumn in the Chichester Canal are completely random. But he is already fascinated by snows, rains, fogs and all natural disasters. So, in 1812, in the “Hannibal Crosses the Alps”, a rampage of the elements is depicted, in the fight against which he does not forget about the person: he shows his smallness and vulnerability. And the wild greatness of the world and undeveloped nature testify to the power of God.
Style Features
Financial independence allowed Turner to freely innovate in his mature work, without regard to customers. In the style of fantastic puzzles, he was very fond of writing the vagaries of nature.
At 67 years old in 1842 he creates the "Snow Storm at Night". The ship is barely visible in the whirlwind that twists this little ship. Everything is mixed on a canvas that is almost abstract: a squally wind that raises huge waves and drives low snow clouds, and the smoke and steam that the steamer releases. He strives into the harbor, barely visible on the horizon. The whirlwind twisted everything into a clear oval, in the center of which the little ship was fighting for life.
Turner and the Industrial Revolution
At the end of the 18th century, the industrial revolution began in England . The appearance of steam locomotives and steamboats immediately began to be reflected in the work of a person who gravitates to everything new. Turner is an artist whose paintings now depict technique. In this, he is ahead of all his contemporary painters. On the canvas, which he called "Rain, Steam, Speed" (1844), the movement of the engine was unusually dynamically transmitted.
Dissecting the opposing stream of air masses, a steam engine breaks out of the fog. He is not afraid of any weather conditions. The artist’s admiration for modern technology is similar to our surprise when we learned that a man broke into space when the first computers appeared. This elderly man is already showing people what they are capable of, and his contemporaries are asking for another - smooth, sweet venus, quiet cozy beautiful, with carefully written leaves and flowers of landscapes.
Personal life
In his youth, until the death of his father in 1829, Turner lived with him. Father was both a friend and an assistant. The painter did not intend to marry, although he lived with an elderly widow Sarah Danby. From her, the artist had two daughters.
He later spent 18 years with Caroline Booth in Chelsea. There he died in 1851. It is said that his last words were: "The sun is God." The artist is buried at his request in the Cathedral of St. Paul next to Sir Joshua Reynolds.