One of my goals on my recent trip was to renew my acquaintance with the work of J M W Turner. I recall making a trip to Toronto in 1980 to specifically see the exhibition of “Turner and the Sublime” in the Art Gallery of Ontario. My last trip to the Tate Britain gallery was as a guest of British Aerospace for a private champagne viewing. Unfortunately I had to professionally “work” the gallery and having consumed too much champagne had little time for the works of Turner. Talk about being a complete philistine!
So on a fabulous September morning I strolled through St. James’s park, saying hello to the resident flock of pelicans taking the benches from annoyed but highly bemused tourists.
PELICAN
The pelicans were originally a gift of the Russian ambassador in 1664.
From the Park, I proceeded through Parliament Square to snag an image of my fellow collegian, Oliver Cromwell. So he had King Charles I’s head chopped off. Hey, nobody’s perfect!
OLIVER CROMWELL, PARLIAMENT SQUARE
From here it was a short walk down Millbank towards the Tate when a familiar building hove into sight across the river..
MI6 Secret Service HQ
Lacking a “double 0” licence, I thought it best not to try and make an entrance and see if Miss Moneypenny was still working there. I recall a modern James Bond flic where this building was “blown up.” In the words of the late great John Candy, “She blowed up. She blowed up REAL good!”
THE TATE BRITAIN ART GALLERY, MILLBANK, LONDON
JMW PERSONALLY GREETS YOU AT THE ENTRANCE
A SELF PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN
The image above is composited with the image below on the British 20 pound note and sits across from a portrait of our late departed Queen. Turner is rewarded with his name on the bill. I know how that feels. Thanks to the appearance of his “Spirit of Haida Gwai,” on the Canadian $20 bill, the Haida artist Bill Reid had his name on the edge of the bill! Thanks for the name recognition Bill.
THE FIGHTING TEMERAIRE
My favourite Turner. To my surprise it was not in the Tate but in the National Gallery, Trafalgar Square. How appropriate as the Temeraire played a vital role in Nelson’s famous battle of the same name.
Having been born a couple of blocks from the Welland canal, ships have been a big part of my life and probably explains my decade of service to the Royal Canadian Navy.
As a young paper boy with a route along the canal, I delivered papers to the shipping company of a man who had earned his master’s certificate under sail on the Great Lakes. As shipping technology changed, he would go on to build the biggest freighter on the Lakes…..the Scott Misner. At that time I was personal witness to the change of shipping fuel from from coal at my uncle’s coal dock to bunker C oil.
In the “Fighting Temeraire,” Turner perfectly captures the end of the era of sail. The ghostly galleon of legendary fame is being towed ignominiously to a breakers yard by a lowly steam powered tug snorting filthy coal dust exhaust into the atmosphere. Turner the romantic was obviously not amused.
NATIONAL RECOGNITION OF TURNER AND HIS WORK
“LIGHT IS THEREFORE COLOUR”
TEAL IN FLIGHT
I was greatly satisfied to see this depiction in watercolour of a Teal by Turner.
BUDDING YOUNG ARTIST IN THE NATIONAL GALLERY
On my trip to the National Gallery to find the Fighting Temeraire, I was pleasantly surprised to see this young artist hone her craft.
For those who are in interested in London photography in general, you are invited to peruse a half century of my image collections here: