How pleasant it is to wander a show labelled with Turner’s name and be one of only a dozen worshippers scattered across a number of beautifully lit, well presented (love the wall colour) galleries. From time to time the Towner shakes off the dross and presents us with shows that are worthy of being called ‘blockbuster’ (quietly), and now there are two, with the wonderfully gentle watercolour show on Turner and competitors(?) as well as the beautifully rehung Ravillious on the floor below.
It seems like a long time since the David Nash show, for me the last major show by a virtuoso in his prime (and I’m not forgetting the show from Hepworth that followed it) nor yet the Hockney and Davie combo. It’s not quite been a desert but there have been a number of shows like parts of the Turner Contemporary that betray the shallow pond of much British art at the moment. In a world where contemplation of the kind rewarded by Turner or Nash no longer competes with TikTok mini melodramas from China on small screens, the sales of artworks falters as the ‘shock of the new’ appears again in Ai form.
Not that Turner didn’t practice gentler forms of exploitation of his work for sales. A lovely small watercolour with an almost Japanese calligraphy black mark over fading watercolour smudges of waves miraculously turns into smoke from a funnel in a storm. But the smile of recognition of an artist titling a piece after its completion, reinterpreting what happened in its execution, is to see his laugh up his sleeve over a genuine piece of inspired mark making, and its exhilarating to almost see his thought processes.
I wanted to take this home with me
In my own work I find the nature of the mark as an indication of the human hand in its creation becoming almost what the work is about in defiance of our small screen world, so it is with delight I see the individual brushstroke, their directionality and feel the weight of the artist’s hand in these works of Turner and his contemporaries. Beyond that their portrayal of what they see brings something that allied to the mark speaks to my soul. I have always found the use of colour and the mark in the hands of the greats – Turner, Monet et al – speaks emotionally as well as spiritually in a way that is rooted in a landscape reality, Turner being one of the first in marrying that to enjoying the emergence of the technology shown in the smoke from a funnel.
Could be the entrance to Newhaven harbour
Without a large oil painting this exhibition seduces, draws in close and gentle, sucks you into the artist’s handiwork. These pieces are precious from Cotman, Girtin, Hind and others, portraying the entrance to docks, ships, storms and pieces of Sussex to strike recognition as well as seducing through the eye. They contrast neatly with the illustrator designer that was Ravillious, their subtle seduction contrasting with his declarative picture making. You’ll need time to submerge yourself in the delights both galleries present.
Almost like an essay needed – ‘compare and contrast’ but both bring joy.
I know which pieces I would love to take home, and there were places where I laughed as I recognised little touches but also some regret as I can see where marks are fading as time takes its toll. These subtle painting may not be with us forever.
Don’t miss these two exhibitions – the Turner is a joint show with Holburne Museum in Bath
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