Turner from the Tate at the Art Gallery of South Australia

I previously wrote about the exhibition Turner from the Tate, which has opened at the Art Gallery of South Australia (Adelaide) before travelling to the National Gallery of Australia (Canberra) for the winter season.

Here's a link to my previous post about Turner from the Tate coming to Australia.

I finally made it to Adelaide to see the exhibition.

My excitement started at the luggage carousel at Adelaide airport...here's the large advert for the exhibition inside the airport terminal...

The luggage carousel at Adelaide domestic airport. photo by Capturing Venice

We queued briefly for tickets and to cloak our luggage, and as soon as I got inside the exhibition rooms, I raced around looking for the Venetian paintings and watercolours. 

The hero image promoting the exhibition is the c1835 oil Venice - Piazetta with Ceremony of the Doge Marrying the Sea:

JMW Turner, Venice - Piazetta with Ceremony of the Doge Marrying the Sea, c. 1835, c. Tate London

Turner's work draws you in, and you have to get close up to appreciate the intricate detail:

JMW Turner, (detail) Venice - Piazetta with Ceremony of the Doge Marrying the Sea, c, 1835, c. Tate London

 

JMW Turner, (detail) Venice - Piazetta with Ceremony of the Doge Marrying the Sea, c, 1835, c. Tate London

 

My favourite work was this oil dated 1843 of San Benedetto, Looking Towards Fusina:

 

JMW Turner, San Benedetto Looking towards Fusina, 1843, c. Tate London

 

The details of the gondolas, the water, the sun and the reflections are so exquisite and perfectly capture Venice...I kept looking and looking and looking and soaking up this painting.

 

JMW Turner, Detail - San Benedetto Looking towards Fusina, 1843, c. Tate London

 



There was also a lovely oil depicting Santa Maria della Salute dated 1844:

JMW Turner, Venice - Church of Santa Maria della Salute, 1844, c. Tate London

and here's a closer detail:

JMW Turner, Detail - Venice - Church of Santa Maria della Salute, 1844, c. Tate London

There was also an unfinished painting of the Doge's Palace and Campanile:

In addition to these four oils, the exhibition includes about half a dozen watercolours and gouaches from Venice.  The earliest is dated c 1826-8 and shows the church of San Luca and back of the Palazzi Grimani from Rio San Luca:

JMW Turner, Church of San Luca, c. 1826-8, watercolour, c. Tate London

After writing about Turner's views from and of the Hotel Europa recently, I was really thrilled to see this 1840 watercolour of the Punta della Dogana and Santa Maria della Salute from Hotel Europa:

JMW Turner, Punta della Dogana and Santa Maria della Salute from the Hotel Europa, 1840, watercolour, c. Tate London

After an hour or so engrossed in the Venice room, I made a quick trip around the rest of the exhibition and then took a break in the lovely kids' activities area of the gallery:

Children's activities room at the Art Gallery of South Australia, photo by Capturing Venice

This is an incredibly generous exhibition: there is much to see (I've only written about the Venice room - the exhibition is a detailed survey of Turner's entire career, and includes a wonderful range of oils, drawings, watercolours, samples from his sketchbooks and much more).  I had the entire day at the gallery and feel like I barely touched the surface of the exhibition, so I have plans to return whilst it's in Adelaide or see it in Canberra once it opens on 1 June.

Turner's Hotel Europa

Further to my previous post about the upcoming Turner from the Tate exhibition which opens in Australia in February 2013, I’ve been spending some time looking at Turner’s Venice watercolours and drawings. 

It’s striking how many times he depicted scenes from the window or on the rooftop of the Hotel Europa, where he stayed during his visits to Venice in 1833 and 1840 (on his first visit to Venice in 1819, he had stayed at the Albergo Leon Bianco near the Rialto).

In this 1840 watercolour, he drew a lively and evocative sketch of the interior of his room at the Hotel Europa:

When I first read that Turner stayed at the ‘Hotel Europa’, I immediately pictured the present day Hotel Europa e Regina (behind San Moise). But a bit more delving made me realise that this was incorrect.

Turner’s‘Hotel Europa’ is in fact Ca’ Giustinian, which since the mid 1940s, has been the headquarters for the Venice Biennale. The building is located between Calle del 13 Martiri and Calle del Ridotto, just behind San Moise.

During Turner’s final stay in Venice, he seems to have used his rooms in the hotel as a temporary studio. The view from his room looked out towards the Campanile of San Marco to the east, and from the top of the building, he could look across the Grand Canal to the Dogana and the Salute.
Here are some links to the Tate’s website showing Turner’s sketches from the Hotel Europa:
 

Venice:Lightning behind the Campanile of San Marco, from the Roof of the Hotel Europa (watercolour and gouache on paper, c 1840)

Venice: Looking North from the Hotel Europa, with the Campaniles of San Marco, San Moise and Santo Stefano

(graphite, watercolour and bodycolour on paper, 1840)

The Punta della Dogana and Santa Maria della Salute at Twilight, from theHotel Europa

(graphite, watercolour and pen and ink on paper, 1840)

Turner also sketched the exterior of the Palazzo Giustinian in 1833.

Ca’ Giustinian was formed in the 16^th century when two buildings, Ca’ Giustinian (1474) and Ca’ Badoer-Tiepolo were joined. In 1750, it passed from the Giustinian family to the Morosinis. In 1817, Arnold Marseille bought the building, and turned it into the ‘Hotel de l’Europe’.

As well as Turner, other famous guests at the Hotel Europa included:

Giuseppe Verdi - he stayed in a room with a private drawing room and piano, and composed part of Ernani (1843) and Rigoletto (1851) here.

Théophile Gautier wrote some chapters of Voyage en Italie (1852) at the hotel.

Marcel Proust and Francois-Rene de Chateaubriand were guests at the turn of the 20^th century.

Turner from the Tate...coming to Australia

I am looking forward to a major exhibition opening next month in Australia. ‘Turner from the Tate: The Making of a Master’ will chart the development of J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851) as a master of the European landscape painting tradition.

Britain’s Tate Gallery holds the largest collection of Turner’s works in the world as a result of the Turner Bequest, which was the artist’s gift to the British nation. The Turner Bequest contains all the works found in Turner’s studio after his death including around 30, 000 works on paper (watercolours and drawings) as well as 300 oil paintings. Many of the works in the Bequest are unfinished pieces or preparatory studies.

This Australian exhibition will feature 110 works including 40 oil paintings and 70 works on paper including watercolours and sketches, including early works such as Buttermere Lake, with part of Cromackwater (1798) to the wonderful oil painting Venice, The Bridge of Sighs (1840).

The Art Gallery of South Australia is using this work as its hero image for its ticketing booth:

Venice, The Bridge of Sighs was first exhibited at the Royal Academy in London in 1840. In the exhibition catalogue, Turner included a few lines from Byron’s poem Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage:

‘I stood upon a bridge, a palace and
A prison on each hand.’

The media release for the exhibition also indicates that a watercolour, Bridge of Sighs (1840) will be included in the exhibition.

Turner created over 600 paintings, watercolours and drawings of Venice, and the city forms one of the richest themes of his mature work. Between 1833 – 1846, he exhibited 25 paintings of Venetian subjects at the Royal Academy. He covered 500 sheets of paper in pencil sketches and executed around 100 watercolours.  And yet - he is believed to have visited Venice just three times, spending the equivalent of only four weeks in the city.

Turner first arrived in Venice in September 1819 at the age of 44 years.  He stayed for five days.

He returned to Venice in September 1833. He stayed for a week at the Hotel Europa, and produced around 200 drawings and a number of watercolours.  He returned again in 1840 and this time spent around two weeks working in Venice.

The Tate holds 280 of the artist’s bound sketchbooks, which have been digitised and are available for viewing on the museum’s website. 

I’ve been happily absorbed in Turner's Venice sketchbook from his September 1833 visit. The immediacy and vivacity of Turner’s sketches are captivating, and it’s thrilling to be able to sit at home in Australia and have such wonderful access to these drawings from the Tate collection.

The exhibition Turner from the Tate: The Making of a Master’opens at the Art Gallery of South Australia (Adelaide) in February before travelling to the National Gallery of Australia (Canberra) in June.

Art Galleryof South Australia, Adelaide from 8 February - 19 May 2013

National Gallery of Australia, Canberra from 1 June – 8 September 2013