Page 141 - Full Solutions 2nd Advanced Student Book_Neat

Joseph Mallord \Tilliam Turner was born
in London in 1775. He came from a
modest background; his father was a
barber and wig maker and his mother
was from a family of butchers. He
showed a very early talent for drawing
and painting, and began to sell his
pictures from his father's shop. By the
age of 14, youngJoseph was already an
accomplished artisr and enrolled at the
Royal Academy of Arts school, the most
prestigious painting school in Britain.
In the 1790s Tirrner spenr rhe
summers travelling widely in Britain,
sketching in the open air, and spent
the winters painting in his studio. His
paintings soon began to appear in
;1,;:,$iift
exhibitions in London alongside works
by much older, well-established painters.
In 1802 he made the first of many trips
to mainland Europe, visiting France and
Switzerland. He was very influenced by
French painters and imitated their sry1e.
But he soon began to experiment and to
develop a very individual style of his own. paint realistically. He has imagined the very popular and sold well, making
Turner was particularly attracred scene rather than painted it from nature, him a very wealthy man. on his diath,
to dramatic, romanric subjects like and attempts to make it as dramatic he left all his paintings to the British
shipwrecks. fires and narural disasrers. and as striking as possible. He is giving governmenr and most of them are
He was fascinated by the destructiveness us an impression of the tiny boat in the kept at the Tate Gallery in London.
of nature and in particular the violent swirling rain and mounrainous seas. He Turner had a big influence on the
power of the sea. In this painting, is trying to show us how helpless we are French impressionist painters in the
'Snow storm - steamboat off a harbour's when faced with the destructive powers second half of the nineteenth cenrury.
mourh', exhibited in 1842, the boat is of nature. \(/hat they admired in Turner was rlre
caught in the middle of a terrible storm Turner was recognised by his 'impressionistic' atmosphere in his
and is trying to reach the safety ofthe contemporaries as an artistic genius. paintings and the way thar he painted
harbour. Turner is not trying here to His romantic, dramatic paintings were light.

ffi Look at the painting. Discuss these questions. 3 ffi Worl< in pairs. Discuss these questions.
Give reasons for your opinions.
1 Do you tike the painting in exercise 1? Why?
1 What does the painting depict?
2 Do you generaIty prefer figurative art (art that attempts
2 When do you think it was painted? to represent with some accuracy its subject matter) or
3 Describe the atmosphere of the painting. abstract art (art that in some ways departs from the
* reality of the subject)? Why?
Read about the painting and the artist. ln your own words te[[
3 Tetl your partner about a work of art or an artist that you
your partner about the following aspects of the artist.
admire. Give reasons for your views.
1 famity background
2 early career
3 travel
4 subiect matter of his paintings and style
5 success during his lifetime
6 influence on later artists
140,5 ,: Culture ,, Britart