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J M W Turner

This module centres on a critical examination of the practice, reception and continuing resonance of JMW Turner, one of the most prolific, mobile and celebrated artists of the nineteenth century.

Seminars will examine the extraordinary range of Turner’s enterprise, from his earliest exhibited work of the 1790s to the provocative, indistinct canvases and watercolours he produced towards the end of his life. With a focus on landscape and coastal views, our enquiries will encompass Turner’s sustained interest in the natural world, classical mythology, the art and culture of past societies, and experimental science. Through reading, seminar discussion and site visits, we will examine the artist’s work in the light of global war and imperial competition, accelerating industrialization, a burgeoning exhibition culture, and new technologies of travel.

As well as placing the artist’s work in its own time, the module will explore Turner’s complex posthumous identity, and the voluminous literature that surrounds it—from the first biographies published after his death in 1851 and the early interventions of John Ruskin, to Mike Leigh’s modern biopic Mr. Turner (2014). We will also consider the agency of the Turner Bequest, Tate and the National Gallery in the reinvention of Turner as a singularly prominent British artist.

JMW Turner, The Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons, 16 October 1834 (1835) 92 x 123. Cleveland Museum of Art

Module information

  • Module title
    J M W Turner
  • Module number
    HOA00087M
  • Convenor
    Richard Johns

For postgraduates