I hope many of my friends were able to see the incredible Turner show at the AGO.
The combination of the show and the recent biographical movie made a strong impression on me. (Two previous posts on this)
Looking at his work in person, it really did seem too progressive for his time – always daring and boundary-pushing. In watercolour as much as in oils.
The critic Ruskin was credited with helping his rise, and sustaining interest (and steady sales) in the ‘right’ (most-lucrative) circles.
In his later life, he fell out of royal favour and was viciously savaged by the critics particularly (bizarrely) for his aggressive use of large expanses of yellow – but these late paintings with much light and almost no literal object, have an almost violent determination to not only resist the criticism – but utterly defeat it.
Considering that these works were among the more important seeds that lead to the flowering of impressionism – I’d say he won that fight – but not without cost.
