A re-enactment of nature (classic flowing aroma)

In the history of British and world art, Joseph Mallord William Turner is a mountain that cannot be bypassed. As one of the most prestigious representatives of the British Academy school, Turner pushed landscape painting to the same status as history painting and portraiture. His unique techniques of light and color laid a solid foundation for the Impressionist and Abstract Schools of later generations.

Young fame ambitions are lofty

In 1775, Turner was born in Mayton-Leine, Covengaden, London, to a modest family, but his father valued Turner's talent for painting and sent him to study with the architectural painter Thomas Marton. Turner, who is good at perspective painting, took over a large number of orders for paintings from architects, invisibly exercising his painting skills.

In 1789, at the age of 14, Turner entered the Royal Academy of Fine Arts and came to prominence only a year later, exhibiting his watercolors at spring exhibitions. Four years later, Turner set up his own studio, and although his income was barely enough to make ends meet, he never produced a sloppy work in his hands. The painter Edward Dyce once used him as an example, saying that "diligence and self-control can be achieved by leaps and bounds without a teacher". Turner later wrote in his diary: "Talent alone is not enough, you must work hard and practice more." In 1802, Turner was accepted as the youngest full member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, known as the "genius painter", and showed increasing artistic attainments in the field of painting.

The young Turner made no secret of his ambitions. In his 21-year-old watercolor painting St. Erasmus and Islips Church, he inscribed his name and date of birth on the tombstone in the foreground of the painting, suggesting that he would have a place in westminster, which represents glory. Throughout Turner's life, whether in the face of peer exclusion or critic criticism, he never gave up his love of art and adhered to the belief of hard work.

Love nature and ingenuity

At the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century, Britain was in the period of the first industrial revolution, the improved steam engine was widely used, and the emerging bourgeoisie stood on the stage of history. The rapid changes in society deepened the people's insecurity, traditional religious painting could not meet psychological needs, and the British landscape painting that sprouted in the 17th century began to enter people's vision again. Turner's ingenious addition of industrial elements to landscape paintings has won many accolades.

Take, for example, the 1844 work Rain, Steam and Speed – The Great Western Railway: a train with a Firefly-class engine travels along the Maidenhead Viaduct to London, where steam from the chimney blends with the misty drizzle in the sky. The views of the woods and fields are especially striking in bright light. To the left of the viaduct is a road bridge built in the 1770s, with a small boat on the Thames under the bridge, a horse-drawn plow on the right, and a running rabbit on the tracks. Turner highlighted the speed of the train by shortening the length of the viaduct and changing the double track to monorail, which was a wonderful contrast with the running rabbit. It was a contest between the forces of nature and the power of steam locomotives. As art historian John Gage put it, "Turner painted not the Great Western Railway, but an allegory of the forces of nature." ”

Turner excels at combining landscape painting with historical events, expanding the breadth of landscape painting. The well-known 1812 oil painting Blizzard: Hannibal and His Army Crossing the Alps depicts the Arrival of a snowstorm in the Alps, where a general Hannibal from Carthage led an army to fight the blockers. The fierce wind swept through the blizzard, shrinking the sun into a dot, the mighty power of nature set off the insignificance of human beings, and the cruelty of war spewed out.

Turner had more than 19,000 paintings and drawings during his lifetime, many of which he completed during his travels. At a young age, he developed the habit of traveling and sketching, leaving a footprint in the large and small countryside of England, completing a series of magazine illustrations. He is also very familiar with the European continent, from the Swiss Alps to the Louvre in France, from the Rhine in Germany to Venice in Italy, nature has given Turner unlimited inspiration and pushed his landscape paintings to new heights.

Turner, who has always regarded the 17th-century French landscape painter Claude Loren as an icon, pioneered a unique style in the field of landscape painting. In his view, it is important to accurately reproduce the style of nature on the drawing board, but to explore the strangeness, majesty and even extremes of nature can truly release the charm of landscape painting. For example, in the 1810 oil painting "The Avalanche of Mount Grisson", the unstoppable avalanche wrapped around the broken rocks, the broken roots of the big tree jumped violently and pressed against the cabin, although the avalanche was from top to bottom, the momentum of the painting was from the bottom up, and the sense of oppression came to the face.

Caress the light and shadow to control the color

In the depiction of natural landscapes, light is an indispensable element. Atmospheric light itself is not visible and can only be expressed by clouds or solid matter. Most of Turner's work focuses on exploring the way light is expressed, using the contrast of colors to create an atmosphere. For example, the Venice series of paintings such as "Venice Festival" and "Venice Grand Canal" (see picture, data picture) use different color effects and counter-effects to present the light and shade changes. Because of his excellent grasp of light, Turner is also known as the "light painter".

Turner's mastery of color is equally impressive. Goethe once proposed the integrity of color in the "Theory of Color", and different colors will affect each other. Turner thus developed his own laws of color. For example, in the oil painting "Slave Ship", he uses a large area of yellow-red with distinct meaning, and the use of non-pure colors effectively stimulates a sense of uneasiness and adds strength to the heavy theme of the painting. In Turner's later works, the function of color in depicting reality became weaker and weaker, and in its place, it was the unity of color and natural effects. It is for this reason that the Impressionists, who record the moments of light and color, regard Turner as a pioneer. This painting technique also had a huge influence on the Abstractist school.

Turner's outstanding painting talents have led the public to maintain a strong curiosity about his life. In fact, Turner has always lived a low-key and mysterious life. In 1845, he made his last trip to France. His eyesight gradually declined, and his paintings became more and more blurred, sometimes with his own comments to understand. But this did not hinder his exploration of painting style, and Turner's later works often had open pictures, self-contained scenes, and elusive meanings.

Turner, who was unmarried all his life, devoted all his energy to the cause of landscape painting, taciturn is the impression of the world, and he loves nature with sensitive and delicate emotions in his heart. In 1851, Turner died and was buried in St. Paul's Cathedral. For more than 100 years, people have never stopped remembering Turner. In the history of art where the stars shine, Turner is like an unquenchable star, illuminating the landscape painting genre with a bright earth. As the British art critic John Ruskin put it: "He closed his eyes forever in the tomb, but future generations can see nature through his eyes." ”

People's Daily ( 2022-01-09 07 edition)