Customer Reviews

J.M.W. Turner: Romantic Painter of the Industrial Revolution

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Rodner's book was one of several top books from many thousands I went through in a long hegira through a college library with immense holdings in Art History. His immaculate chronology pulls back the curtain on what Turner experienced as the steam engine began its historical ascendancy in the first half of the 19th century. Even if you are very familiar with the works of Turner, this book will bring you far closer to the distinction and sensitivity of Turner's complex understanding of modernism. Many of Turner's paintings can be seen in the context of not only his travels, but how remarkably astute he was to the constantly changing pictorial impact of the industrial revolution. Further, as Rodner shows in a model of balanced intellectual enquiry, Turner recreates himself as artist as he engages History itself.
An all around great book and an outstanding eye-opener for students as well as Turner specialists.

I know William Rodner personally as he was my World History professor my first year of college and he is now my history guru god! This man is articulate, intelligent and well read on many historical subjects however his love of Turner comes through often in his lectures. I have every intention of owning and reading this book one day but the thing that surprised me the most was that I didn't find out about the book from Dr. Rodner himself but from a posting on the wall outside his office. If I had not seen that article, I would NEVER have known how famous and influential in the larger world one of my beloved professors is. I recommend you read the book strictly on my word that it will be worth your while because I KNOW the man as teacher and historian and you WILL find this book accurate, passionate and fulfilling.

T. Garcia

I enjoy reading this book and looking at the photos of Turner's work. I am not familiar with many of Turner's paintings but I think that this book contains a good smattering of them. Turner painted many works, and this book has photos of a few of them.

The hardcover book "J.M.W. Turner: Romantic Painter of the Industrial Revolution" is about Turner's paintings and the early days of the industrial revolution. There are several reviews of this book on web; searching the web for "J.M.W Turner" and "industrial revolution" will find them for you.

Amazon lists another book, "J.M.W. Turner" by Sam Smiles, as the paperback version of the above book. I was trying to make a gift card I recieved for Christmas go as far as I could, and purchased the paperback book based on Amazon's listing.

When I recieved and read the book; I found that Turner and the industrial revolution is only covered on two pages (pp 41-42). So, I was greatly disappointed; since it was the industrial revolution aspect of Turner's work that I was interested in, and hence I gave it only three stars.

Smiles' book covers well the social and political background of Turner's work, along with his evolution as an artist from the traditional landscape paintings to the edge of abstraction and modernism painting. I have seen Turner's work in an exibition in Dallas; his paintings were often huge (7 feet by 10 feet in several instances), and along with the vivid colors make them difficult to reproduce in a printed book or web page. The illustrations in Smiles' book are reasonably good; but being so small, my aged eyes had a hard time making out the details called out in the text.

If you want to read about the connection between Turner's work and the industrial revolution, buy the hardcover "J.M.W. Turner: Romantic Painter of the Industrial Revolution." Do not go by Amazon's listing, and buy Smiles' paperback book instead; though it is a good read about other aspects of Turner's work.