Customer Reviews

J.M.W. Turner, 1775-1851: The World of Light and Colour (Basic Art)

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Most of the small, inexpensive Taschen art books are delightful -- well printed and well written -- but this one fails on both counts. I'm not really surprised that the paintings and water colors of J.M.W Turner don't comes across in this small format; the luminous transparency of his colors and the textures of his pigments simply defy photography and lithography. The most I hoped for was that the reproductions would stir my memories of Turner's works that I've seen in London, Berlin, and Philadelphia. But I wanted more from the text. Turner is an amazing phenomenon if you consider his dates: born in 1775, most of his best work done before 1840, died in 1851. For a comparison, Monet was born in 1840, Renoir in 1841. Turner's range of affect was astonishing, from paintings as dire as Goya's to impressionism to incipient abstraction, and all breathtakingly polished in technique. I wanted to know something of his life, of his mode of living and painting, of his mind. The text by Michael Bockemühl may have some of that information in it, but it's insufferably over-written and impenetrably disorganized. Even supposing that it's a translation from German done by a native Tibetan speaker with a degree in the philosophy of Schopenhauer from a University in Albania, I couldn't keep my eyes focused on the phrases long enough to extract anything meaningful from this pompous rambling.

My first serious look at Turner. The 2010 reprint is not the original plates of the text, but rather has been scanned (!). Nonetheless, I found this text clear, forthright, enlightened and enlightening. The author speaks directly to the sense of what 'painting', and 'color' are about. There is a fine explanation of the difficulty of 'freezing time' in action or more so in seascapes. The text proposes an understanding of the borderline between color that re-presents an object (through a two-dimensional imaging of it), and the 'color' representation of the object. There is also an interesting discussion on the distortion of perspective, as well as the 'problem' of a painting being presented from multiple perspectives at the same time.

From a 'simple' reading of the text, I would have taken it to be an introduction to late-nineteenth century issues. A painter who in some senses was far ahead of his time. Think "late-Beethoven quartets". His painting engages, or it doesn't. In the way that Rothko engages, or doesn't, Turner lays the foundation for this possibility of multiple representations.

A good basic introduction in about 100 images taken from the over 18,000 that are catalogued.

A fascinating journey, and a book that has led me to acquire more books about Turner. For those with a musical bent, the composers to listen to while viewing will be Mendelssohn for the early architecture, and R Strauss for the early landscapes. Chabrier and Scriabin for middle and later works, and color-field composers such as Mort Feldman for the paintings that are more color and light at the end of his career.

For $10 or $15 ... a great deal.

This book is basically unreadable. Impenetrable metaphysical terminology is used in dense, convoluted sentences to convey abstruse theories of meaning (at least I think that's what it is) in such a way as to be completely and utterly opaque. Half the time I didn't know what the guy was talking about, and I have a degree in this stuff and belong to Mensa. If you're interested in Turner, you'd do better to look elsewhere.

Some good reproductions though, and if you're just interested in the pictures, the price is right. Hence the two stars; the text would be zero, since it's useless.

This book is basically unreadable. Impenetrable metaphysical terminology is used in dense, convoluted sentences to convey abstruse theories of meaning (at least I think that's what it is) in such a way as to be completely and utterly opaque. Half the time I didn't know what the guy was talking about, and I have a degree in this stuff and belong to Mensa. If you're interested in Turner, you'd do better to look elsewhere.

Some good reproductions though, and if you're just interested in the pictures, the price is right. Hence the two stars; the text would be zero, since it's useless.

In last instance, the final purpose may be resumed in this superb statement of Goethe, extracted from his Theory of the colors: "If the totality of the colors offers itself from outside of the eye, that will produce it pleasure, due it will have as a real fact, the sum of its own activity."

Sixty years of untiring effort. More that nineteen thousand of drawings and sketches,. The impressive journey that would lead him through his very personal painting. Turner possessed that supreme rank, manifested itself as a driving force that altered the visual perception, that allowed him to establish a direct access to the visible character of the nature and in the meantime to understand , from a new perspective the singularity of his pictorial work. Precisely, these hues of painting, the suggested vision through the gradation or juxtaposition of the colors, presupposes and active spectator, confronted with these curious contrasts of tonality and kaleidoscopic spell in its countless facets.

Turner has always been one of my supreme icons of the painting. When you visit London don' t forget in your personal agenda, Tate Gallery and the National Gallery.

But in the meantime, this book will give you the minimum facets of this hyper skilled painter. An immortal name among the greatest colossus of the visual arts.