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"Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775-1851"
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November 18 - February 15
Pushkin Fine Arts Museum 
Pushkin Fine Arts Museum presents an exhibition of painting and watercolours by Joseph Mallord William Turner – outstanding British landscape painter that had a great impact on European painting of the second half of the XIX century. In 1802, at the age of 27 he became the youngest ever member of the Royal Academy of Arts (London). Having started his career within the established English art traditions, Turner was quick to acquire heritage of the old European masters from Rembrandt to Claude Lorrain and Antoine Watteau. Fast-growing professionalism and ability to reproduce skillfully the state of atmosphere made the artist refuse from detailed plot, standard for that time, and approach stylistic manner similar to impressionism.
William Turner belongs to the small group of European artists whose works were not presented in the Russian museum collections. From time to time separate works of the master can be seen within mix exhibitions, but they fail to show all the depth of his talent - by breadth of interests Turner is often compared with Leonardo da Vinci; and young John Ruskin called him the most perfect landscape painter ever. Till 1796 the artist worked with watercolour only. Later on, he would often use this technique, especially during his numerous trips along Italy, Germany, France, Switzerland and British provinces.
This exposition includes about 100 works (40 pictures, 70 watercolours and 2 engravings) from Tate Britain Gallery – State national museum in London. The best works of this exhibition are important and landmark, e.g. “Fishermen at Sea” – Turner’s first serious oil painting, exhibited in Academy of Arts in 1796. Among the key paintings of the artists, presented in Pushkin Fine Arts Museum, is also “Peace. Burial at Sea” (1842). Turner presented his view on funerals of his friend, Scottish artist Sir David Wikie, who died coming back from the Middle East.
Turner was lonely in art and didn’t have direct followers. In 1870s, impressionists took great interest in his works, but only XX century managed to comprehend sublime world of images in Turner’s late works, e.g. in “Sunrise with Sea Monsters” ( 1845) or “Snow Storm – Steam Boat off a Harbor’s Mouth Making Signals in Shallow Water” (1842) where color decision is subject to definite concept.
Besides famous paintings and watercolours by Turner, this exhibition features hardly known works that reproduce period of master’s maturing and also educational studies that show him as a teacher and theorist.
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