Biography
William Turner is a famous British romantic artist, whose work was distinguished by an innovative approach to the image of landscapes. It used mainly watercolor and oil, preferring a bright palette of colors. Despite the fact that later paintings of the master were not adopted by contemporaries, it is now difficult to overestimate the contribution of Turner to world painting.Childhood and youth
Joseph Mallord William Turner was born approximately April 23, 1775 in one of the districts of London called Covent Garden. The father of the future artist William was professionally engaged in the manufacture of wigs, and at the end of the 1770s founded the hairdresser. When the boy was 10 years old, he moved to his uncle to the metropolitan suburb of Brentford. The reason for this was the mental illness of the Mother of William and the difficult situation in the family that had developed because of this.
Living at a relative, the boy began to be interested in visual art. Having completed her studies at school in the late 1780s, Turner again moved to London, where he found work at the topographers and architects. One of them was the famous English artist Thomas Malton.
In the winter of 1789 William, who at that time was 14 years old, was enrolled in the Royal Academy of Arts. He took the entrance exam at the young men Sir Joshua Reynolds, who is a portrait painter. In the future, being a student of an influential educational institution, Turner gladly listened to the lectures of the artist who had influenced the creativity of the watercolor.
Painting
During his studies at the Academy, the novice artist thoroughly researched a full course of lectures on the idealistic direction in the arts told by the first president of the art institution. A year after the start of study, William, written by watercolor, made the exhibit at the local annual exhibition.
Debut painting by oil, awarded exposure, Turner created in 1790th. Subsequently, the artist's work on a regular basis was exhibited at the Academy. In 1791, he received the position of artist Scenographer in the opera Pantheon, located on Oxford Street, and also worked as a teacher of painting.
William applied to the study of creativity as masters of the past and modern painters. The adoptive features of other people's work, he revised their images and expressed his own feelings.
An interesting fact is that a man with a special admiration referred to the painting of Claude Lorren: According to Törner, he could not hold back tears, seeing his picture, called the "sailing of Queen Sava." Watercolor argued that such a stormy reaction is connected with what he never had to see before something like that.
Many years later, when William earned fame, he entrusted the storage of the painting "Didona, the founder of the Carthage", to which he treated as an unsurpassed masterpiece, the National Gallery. He asked only about one thing - that the work would adjust to the "sailing of Queen Sava." Turner studied in detail the professional biography of Lorren, including albums with his Liber Veritatis engravings, which were inspired by the drawings of the mature creative period of the French artist.
Later, William organized the release of his own album entitled Liber Studiorum and reproduced in a similar technique as Lorren's drawings. The publication was intended to ensure that novice artists use it as a textbook. Engravings in it were distributed over the thematic sections - painting historical, architectural, household and mythological, landscapes mountain and sea.
The first sketching trip Turnner happened in 1791. Subsequently, the artist was constantly sent to European travel - in Switzerland, France, Italy, making sketches with the help of a hiking palette. William left after a truly great heritage - more than 10 thousand sketches and drawings.
Works captured in hiking albums have repeatedly became the basis for watercolors of the painter he created in London. For his creative life, a man often returned to very old sketches.
William Turner, being a famous artist, received the position of Corresponding Member of the Royal Academy on November 4, 1799. After 2 years, his work "Fishermen in the Sea" was exhibited at the Academy, after which she gained a huge success and publicity. The artist Benjamin West compared the work of a representative of romanticism with the Dutch painter Rembrandt. On February 10 of the same year, William received the status of the most young artist who had achieved the status of the Royal Academician.
The painter constantly worked on improving his technology, devoted a lot of time to study links between geology and architecture, as well as the peculiarities of air and water movement. By the beginning of the 19th century, he achieved absolute expressiveness and strength in his watercolors, which usually inherent in painting by oil.
In his work, William did not use the reception of detail, creating an innovative look of the landscape, with the help of which he transmitted his experiences and memories. In the paintings, Turner reproduced the image of people during picnics, walking and field work. With sensitivity and love drawing a person, the master passed on the canvas, how imperfect his nature and how much hero is weak in front of the environment - at the same time calm and terrible, but constantly indifferent.
In 1807, William got a job in the Royal Academy as a teacher of perspective. He compiled a training program in such a way that it covers not only issues directly related to the stated subject, but also a much wider range of topics. The lectures of Turner were a rethinking of the Rainolds course and appealed to the beloved theme of the artist - the question of "Poetic painting".
William Turner found a special popularity after writing paintings, which are devoted to Wars with Napoleon - "Field with Waterloo" and "Trafalgar Battle".
The painter for the first time visited Italy in 1819. He visited Turin, Milan, Rome, Venice and Naples, where he was studying the work of modern local artists, such as Titian, Tintoretto, Rafael.
Together with the journey to Italy, William's paintings became brighter, and their palette is more intense with the dominance of basic color combinations. Also in his work, a new Venetian theme appeared, which became special for the artist. He visited Venice 3 times - in 1819, 1833, 1840, so the memories of this city were reflected in the canvas.
However, not everyone satisfied the success of Törner - the collector and artist Sir George Bomon frankly criticized the "liberty" and "alauposity" of his works. A little later, innovation and innovation in the work of William, who anticipated the stages of painting the late 19th - early 20th centuries, caused an ambiguous reaction of contemporaries.
The public of the Victorian era, which preferred realism, practically not different from photo art, as well as showing sentimentalism and a more modest color gamut, with difficulty perceived many works of the artist.
In 1830-1840, Turner increasingly heard unfolded attacks from the audience and critics. The artist even had a reputation of crazy because of some of his works that bordered with abstractionism. In connection with all this, Queen Victoria refused to erect William in the knights. However, there were also anchor defenders of the works of the British painter - the writer John Ryuskin gave him the title of the greatest artist of all time.
Personal life
About the personal life of an outstanding artist is known to be extremely small, he thoroughly hid the details of his relationship. From the youngest years to the death of the parent, who came in 1829, William lived with him. Father was also an assistant and friend.Turnner did not find a woman who was ready to make his official wife. But for many years lived together with the elderly widow named Sara Danby. A couple had two children, both girls. Next, William is 18 years old in relations with Caroline Booth, living in Chelsea.
Death
It was in Chelsea on December 19, 1851 the life of the artist broke off. The cause of death was cholera disease. The last words of William Torner - "The Sun is God." The artist buried in the Cathedral of St. Paul next to the grave Sir Joshua Reynolds.
In 2014, the art film directed by Mike Lee, telling about the final stage of the life of the English artist-Marinist. William Turner played a talented actor and movie theater Timothy Spoll.
Paintings
- 1799 - "Self-portrait"
- 1812 - "Snowstorm"
- 1812 - "Transition Hannibal through the Alps"
- 1818 - "Dordcht"
- 1835 - "Grand Channel"
- 1839 - "The last flight of the ship" Device ""
- 1840 - "Sleeve Ship"
- 1844 - "Rain, steam and speed"
- 1845 - "Sunrise with marine monsters"
- 1845 - "Nores Castle, Sunrise"