The recently opened exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art featuring Joseph Mallord

William (J.M.W) Turner (1775 - 1851) is an exercise in dichotomy. Turners grandiloquent style
of representing natural and mythological phenomena flows effortlessly from inspirational to
excessive, leaving the viewer either awe-struck or annoyed as he/she moves from one room to
the next. But the sheer volume of heterogeneous artwork (140+ works) will inspire the viewer at least once - to appreciate Turners undeniable gift.
Hailed as the harbinger of Impressionism, Modernism and Realism1, Turner is a prodigy of
Western art. Like many artists, Turner was self-taught and most of his early watercolors, if
technically flawless, were still rather academic. His true legacy lies in his later work in which he
expresses nature romantically instead of factually, proficiently capturing the fugitive phenomena
of nature (like sunlight and wind)2 on canvas.
The exhibit - crafted in chronological style - opens with Turners representation of Tintern
Abbey. Painted when he was only nineteen (1795), a young Turner is yet to discover his original
style and still grounds his paintings firmly in the visible. His ability to capture the ephemeral
sunlight manifests itself clearly in Tintern Abbey indicating a deep understanding of naturalism
early in his career. John Ruskin (known to be Turners greatest enthusiast) describes Turner as
the only artist who could stirringly and truthfully measure the moods of Nature.3
Born and brought up around nature, by the age of ten Turner would often go on unaccompanied
walks along the English countryside, sketching everything of interest. Trained in architecture, his
talent was quickly recognized and nurtured by his middle-income father who displayed and sold
Turners early pieces (Room 1 of the Exhibit) in his barbershop and eventually sent his son to the
prestigious schools of the Royal Academy. Here, Turner grew from a precise watercolorist to an
abstract oil painter. So by nineteen, when he painted Tintern Abbey, Turner already had a full

resume.
Despite Turners consistent genius, the show is inconsistent in its appeal. The choice of the
curator (Gary Tintertow) to order the paintings in chronological fashion is a surprising one.
Despite Turners impressive ability to innovate he would often times paint very similar paintings
- sometimes four or five of the same subject at a time. Placing The Shipwreck in the same room
as Fishermen at Sea (both dark foreboding seascapes) dampens the innovative use of tone in
both, making his technique seem trite and the exhibit tedious.
But every now and again a flash of brilliance emerges from the sea of monotony; Turner is at his
innovative best in a mix of distinctive and abstract. In Ulysses Deriding Polyphemus the abstract
rays of sunlight blend into the sky dreamily while the lifelike ship anchors the painting in reality.
His inventive brushstrokes capture the essence of the Odyssey and the transience of nature more
capably than many (maybe any) of his contemporaries.
But Turners respect for the sublimity of nature often led him to discard the significance of
people in his paintings. In Snow Storm: Hannibal and his Army Crossing the Alps Turner
portrays an elephant rider as miniscule compared to the violent storm above, belittling one of the
greatest armies in history. In the Tenth Plague of Egypt the storm and the buildings are massively
proportioned compared to the two struggling people in the foreground, alienating the viewer by
displaying nature as so dominant.
Turner presented a novel approach to a classical style and with it revolutionized 19th century art.
In his underlying objective to capture the fury of nature Turner isolates the viewer and the show
leaves him/her perhaps awed, but devoid of reaction. Once or twice the viewer may connect with
a piece - but the connection is quickly disparaged by an onslaught of repetition.
1 Smith, Roberta, Storm-Tossed Visionary of Light, p.1

2 In a letter from Monet, Pissarro, Degas, Renoir and more: A group of French painters,
applying themselves with passion to the rendering of form in movement as well as the fugitive
phenomena of light, cannot forget that they have been preceded in this path by a great master of
the English, the illustrious Turner.
3 Piper, David, The Illustrated History of Art, pp. 320-321