Turner, Whistler, Monet [Paperback]

Katherine A. Lochnan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 10, 2004

Whilst these three great artists have been the subject of numerous exhibitions and publications, the relationship between them has never fully been explored. Now, for the first time, a team of specialists examine this artistic triangle. Exhibition at Tate Britain, Spring 2004.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Surely it’s an overstatement to call Claude Monet’s seminal 1872-3 canvas Impression, Sunrise the "offspring" of J.M.W. Turner’s sunsets and J.M. Whistler’s nocturnes, as Lochnan does in the preface to this book, which accompanies an exhibit that she curated at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto. Not that there were no connections among the three painters: Turner clearly anticipated the later two artists’ interest in delicate, fleeting light effects; favorite subjects for all three included sunsets in Venice and fogs on the Thames, and all three were dogged by accusations that their sketchy, spontaneous pictures looked "unfinished." But by exaggerating these connections into a direct lineage, Lochnan flattens out the complexities and falls back on tenuous hypotheticals. Case in point: in one long caption she breezily progresses from the possibility that Monet "could have seen" a particular Venetian pastel of Whistler’s to the certainty that "Whistler’s pastels must have been in Monet’s mind when he visited the city." The seven curators and academics recruited to supplement Lochnan’s text take a more sober and nuanced view of the relations, perhaps because they have less stake in the exhibit’s premise of direct influence. Art historian John House, for example, supplies a thoughtful essay on Turner’s effect on Impressionism that never goes beyond the evidence, concluding that "the question of Turner’s influence on their work is more complex, and any answers are clouded by later comments and reminiscences from the artists themselves." But it’s the carefully chosen, gorgeously reproduced images themselves that make the most compelling evidence for the sympathies and rivalries among the three artists, who are no less fascinating for being, at times, as ambiguous as the misty mood-scapes which they drew.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Katharine A. Lochnan is a senior curator of prints and drawings at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Ian Warrell is a Tate curator and editor of Turner and Venice. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Tate Gallery Publishing (May 10, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1854375008
• ISBN-13: 978-1854375001
• Product Dimensions: 11.6 x 9.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,923,039 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not just a coffee table book, June 7, 2005

By 

Antonio B. Ooka Jr. (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Turner, Whistler, Monet: Impressionist Visions (Hardcover)

Monet spoke explicitly of the inspiration he took from

Turner's Thames and Venetian oils and watercolors.

Whistler's debt to Turner was much more complex. The

artist and critic John Ruskin seemed to have arrogated

to himself the role of interpreting and protecting the

late JMW Turner's legacy before the British public after

Turner's death.

Ruskin denounced Whistler's loosely atmospheric Nocturnes

as unworthy of the mantle once worn by Turner, the

British landscape painter par excellence, making it

difficult for Whistler to sell his Nocturnes to British

collectors. Whistler sued Ruskin for libel and won

but the damage to Whistler's sales had been done.

The American-born Whistler for his part was left with

such mixed feelings following in the steps of Turner

that he downplayed any connection he felt to the late

painter.

Nevertheless, Whistler moved into Turner's Chelsea

neighborhood and painted strikingly similar views.

Whistler also did a series of impressionistic pastels

in Venice, comparable to the abstract watercolor

impressions left by Turner.

In the end, Turner no doubt inspired this younger

generation of impressionistic painters whose legacy

became quite rich in itself.

Ironically, Ruskin and the pre-Raphaelites who hoped to wear

the aura left by Turner never quite filled the

shoes left by the old man.

5 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A superb coffee table book, August 10, 2004

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Turner, Whistler, Monet: Impressionist Visions (Hardcover)

The collaborate effort of Katharine A. Lochnan (Senior Curator of Prints and Drawings at the Art Gallery of Ontario) and Ian Warrell (Tate Curator and Editor of Turner and Venice), Turner, Whistler, Monet: Impressionist Visions ponders the intricate interrelationships between three great artists and their contributions to 19th century landscape art. Filled with black-and-white as well as full color representations of soul-stirring landscape, sunset, and scenery artworks, Turner, Whistler, Monet also proffers scholarly text tracing the lives and histories of these three artists as well as the philosophical messages and schools of thought behind their enduring legacies. A superb coffee table book that strives for greater understanding of the art world.