Joseph Mallord William Turner

Self portrait, oil on canvas, circa 1799

J. Turner Biography

• Born on April 23rd, 1775• His father was a barber and a wig maker and

his mother was mentally ill• Turner was sent to stay with his uncle in 1785• A year later he went to a school in Margate –

his father displayed his sons drawings in his shop window

J. Turner Biography Continued…

• Turner entered the Royal Academy of Art schools in 1789, when he was only 14 years old

• He was accepted into the academy a year later• After one year of study, one of his watercolours

was accepted for the Summer Exhibition• In 1796, Turner exhibited Fishermen at Sea, his

first oil

Joseph Mallord William Turner (British, 1775-1851). Fishermen at Sea, Exhibited 1796. Oil on canvas. 36 x 48 1/8 in. (91.4 x 122.2 cm). Purchased 1972.

Joseph Mallord William Turner, The Fighting Temeraire, 1839, oil on canvas, 90.7 x 121.6 cm (The National Gallery, London)

Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1842), The Blue Rigi, Sunrise, watercolour on paper, 297x450mm

Legacy

• Paintings became increasingly abstract as he was driven to portray light, space and nature

• Turner encountered violet criticisms as his style became increasingly free

• His paintings were revolutionary, and extremely influential, laying the groundwork for impressionism, post-impressionism, abstract expressionism, colour-field painting, and the list goes on.

Colour Beginning 1819; Watercolor, 22.5 x 28.6 cm; Tate Gallery, London

The Grand Canal, Venice 1835; Oil on canvas, 91.4 x 122.2 cm; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Slavers throwing overboard the Dead and Dying - Typhon coming on ("The Slave Ship") 1840; Oil on canvas, 90.8 x 122.6 cm; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston