Turner and his painters, Grand Palais, Paris

Edit Template

Exhibition

Turner and his painters, Grand Palais, Paris.

Venue

National Gallery of the Grand Palais

Client

National Museums Assembly (NMR)

Project Manager

Didier Blin

Area

1180 m²

Exhibition Curator: Guillaume Faroult, Curator of Paintings Department, Louvre Museum, Paris
Curator, David Solkin, Professor of Art History, Courtauld Institute,
London Ian Warrell, Tate Britain, London.

February 2010

Turner and his painters

Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851), already widely recognized in his lifetime, is today considered the greatest British landscape painter of the 19th century. He is considered to be the renovator of the genre, especially in his ultimate works, where tradition is overtaken by the dilution of forms in light. Turner is often perceived as the inspiration for impressionism (he never got to know) or even of abstract paintings.

Turner never ceased to want to transcribe in his painting the sensation of nature while continually drawing inspiration from a number of artists (mainly painters), glorious olds or contemporary bubbling rivals, to pursue his artistic quest. Exceptionally ambitious, Turner was in constant competition with past and present art perpetually wishing to perfect his talent. This revolutionary painter, in fact, is an heir, a continuator and a road companion.

Turner and his painters

Turner, a native of London of modest origin, is a pure product of the young Royal Academy of Arts founded in 1768 and which advocated as the basis of its teaching copying according to the «masters», namely a small number of Renaissance or 17th century painters, considered the quintessence of the «Grand Style». Following this method throughout his career, Turner would build his way by making his own choices among the «inspirationists» both those advocated by academic traditions and the outside society . His career was influenced by the development of the London art scene with the creation of the first museums, the rise of public exhibitions and the art market.

It is this story that this exhibition aims to trace. By rediscovering the ancient works that Turner had himself selected, by confronting the artist with his beloved models or his challenged rivals, we follow the path of a creator who first wanted to be a painter, not just a landscaper, and who built all his work to be integrated into the pantheon of the greatest. Inseparably with them and against them, in order to define oneself …