JMW Turner - HOA00087M
Module summary
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.
Module will run
| Occurrence | Teaching period |
|---|---|
| A | Semester 1 2025-26 |
Module aims
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.
Crucially, as well as placing the artist’s work in its own time, the module will explore Turner’s complex posthumous identity, and the voluminous scholarship that sustains it — from the first biographies published after his death in 1851 and the early involvement of John Ruskin, to the modern curatorial interventions that continue to reimagine ‘Turner’ for our own time. We will also consider the agency and exhibition history of the Turner Bequest in the reinvention of Turner as a singularly prominent British artist.
Module learning outcomes
By the end of this module students should have acquired:
- A close familiarity with the artistic practice of JMW Turner (1775–1851)
- An understanding of the materials and techniques used by the artist
- An appreciation of the broader art-historical, institutional and political context in which Turner’s work found meaning.
- An appreciation of modern art-historical, curatorial and critical debates surrounding Turner’s work
- Advanced skills in visual analysis
- High-level reading skills, to critically evaluate and engage with a range of scholarly approaches
- An ability to develop a sophisticated written argument, using images effectively
- Persuasive presentation skills and the ability to explain complex ideas to an informed audience
- Familiarity with a range of archival, literary, visual and other forms of source material, including collection-based resources
Indicative assessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 100 |
Special assessment rules
None
Indicative reassessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 100 |
Module feedback
You will receive feedback on assessed work within the timeframes set out by the University - please check the Guide to Assessment, Standards, Marking and Feedback for more information.
The purpose of feedback is to help you to improve your future work. If you do not understand your feedback or want to talk about your ideas further, you are warmly encouraged to meet your Supervisor during their Office Hours.
Indicative reading
- David Blaney Brown (ed.), JMW Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, 2012
- www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner
- Martin Butlin and Evelyn Joll, The Paintings of JMW Turner, 2 vols, 1984 (revised ed.)
- Leo Costello, JMW Turner and the Subject of History, 2012
- Gillian Forrester, Turner’s ‘Drawing Book’: The Liber Studiorum, 1996
- Christine Riding and Richard Johns, Turner and the Sea, 2013
- John Ruskin, Modern Painters, 5 vols (1843–60)
- Sam Smiles, JMW Turner: The Making of a Modern Artist, 2007
- David Solkin (ed.), Turner and the Masters, 2009