On the 3rd of September 2014, I visited London, there I had a chance to visit the London Tate Museum in which I got to see one of Joseph Mallord William Turner’s painting called ‘Yacht Approaching the Coast’ which was painted using oil paint on canvas. My first impression of the painting was the scale in which it was painted in, I imagined it would be a reasonably medium sized painting for sure no bigger than me, however in fact it was quite a large painting compared to what I though it would have been. The scale of the canvas in fact is an important aspect for this painting, because it is landscape painting hence the composition and the whole subject matter looks much better on a larger scale.
(A painting by Joseph Mallord William Turner ‘Yacht Approaching the Coast’ , oil paint on canvas, 18401845, London Tate Museum.)
Just to briefly show the scale of the painting here is a photograph of me by the painting (Bellow)
Another interesting thing that I found out about Turner’s painting that I most likely would have not know about, is the fact that from up close it is visible how the oil paint is cracking and slightly chipping away. So although from a distance or even by looking up the picture online, the texture and surface may appear smooth, from up close the texture has visibly changed. This has most likely happened due to time, as the oil paint got older over so many years, however it may have also been the fault of the artist as in the description of the painting it is written that Turner kept going over areas of the painting over several years (which may explain too much oil paint was applied causing the paint to crack) and it is also said that due to this the original subject matter has been covered up as by ‘reworking on the canvas Turner has created less tangible subjects’. This in fact I find very interesting as before I though that Turner intentionally painted in a less detailed and more blurry way, but it may have been that actually this painting once had a clear subject matter. This links back to Turners other painting ‘Norham Castle Sunrise’ which I had previously analysed, it was this painting also in which turner had created a less detailed subject matter, after not being pleased with his other paintings of the same castle subject which had more detail in them.
This allows me to understand him as an artist better, unlike my two other artist (Vytautas Kasiulis, Scott Naismith) who intentionally painted/paint an under layer on the canvases before focusing on the real detail, whereas Turner first did clear paintings, and then for some reason (maybe trying to perfect it) would go over the paintings so much they lost the clearness to them.
(Above a close up of Joseph Mallord William Turner ‘Yacht Approaching the Coast’ painting, showing the cracks of the oil paint)Lastly what found interesting about this painting is the actual subject matter as in the description it is said this is a yacht approaching the coast , and also that ’ the dark shapes that appear through the layers suggest boats, while the buildings on the left have not been definitively identified but may represent Venice’. However in my first thought, I could see a boat in the middle of the see being surrounded by thick layer of fog as the night time approached during sunset. However it is clearly to everyone’s eye to decided what they can see in this painting.
Another thing I found out whilst being in Tate museum, was that there was a Henri Matisse exhibition going on. (Scott Naismith has said in his online video that Matisse’s art work inspires him, and has especially done so for his painting ‘Sisters of Glencoe’) I wanted to go see Matisse’s exhibition however due to a large amount of other viewers going to see his work, there were only tickets to see his work a few hours latter, which was unsuitable for me. However I did go to his ‘gift shop’ where I purchased some postcards of his work (that are in the folder) that is ‘The Snail’ 1953 and ‘The Parakeet and the Mermaid’ 1952.
(Photographs, taken in the Henri Matisse art shop in London Tate Museum)
Even though I could not see Matisse’s work, I got to see some other artist work in the free gallery, which gave me ideas and inspirations (even if I will not use these artists in my work it is still useful to see how others work and see their techniques up close) Here are some pictures bellow.
Ibrahim El-Salahi ’Reborn Sounds of Childhood Dreams’ 1961-1965. Enamel paint and oil paint on cotton.
Leon Golub ‘Vietnam II’ , 1973, Acrylic on Linen. (This painting has given me an understanding how effective large scaled paintings may look,as it enriches the detail, and the feeling of the surrounding)
Above Lee Ufan ‘From Line’ 1978, oil paint and glue on canvas.
The artist would make long downward lines until the paint on the paintbrush would be used up, and so he would repeat the process.
Niki de Saint Phalle ’Shooting picture’ 1961, Tirage, plaster, paint, string, polythene and wire on wood.
(A painting by Joseph Mallord William Turner ‘Yacht Approaching the Coast’ , oil paint on canvas, 18401845, London Tate Museum.)Just to briefly show the scale of the painting here is a photograph of me by the painting (Bellow)
Another interesting thing that I found out about Turner’s painting that I most likely would have not know about, is the fact that from up close it is visible how the oil paint is cracking and slightly chipping away. So although from a distance or even by looking up the picture online, the texture and surface may appear smooth, from up close the texture has visibly changed. This has most likely happened due to time, as the oil paint got older over so many years, however it may have also been the fault of the artist as in the description of the painting it is written that Turner kept going over areas of the painting over several years (which may explain too much oil paint was applied causing the paint to crack) and it is also said that due to this the original subject matter has been covered up as by ‘reworking on the canvas Turner has created less tangible subjects’. This in fact I find very interesting as before I though that Turner intentionally painted in a less detailed and more blurry way, but it may have been that actually this painting once had a clear subject matter. This links back to Turners other painting ‘Norham Castle Sunrise’ which I had previously analysed, it was this painting also in which turner had created a less detailed subject matter, after not being pleased with his other paintings of the same castle subject which had more detail in them.
This allows me to understand him as an artist better, unlike my two other artist (Vytautas Kasiulis, Scott Naismith) who intentionally painted/paint an under layer on the canvases before focusing on the real detail, whereas Turner first did clear paintings, and then for some reason (maybe trying to perfect it) would go over the paintings so much they lost the clearness to them.
(Above a close up of Joseph Mallord William Turner ‘Yacht Approaching the Coast’ painting, showing the cracks of the oil paint)Lastly what found interesting about this painting is the actual subject matter as in the description it is said this is a yacht approaching the coast , and also that ’ the dark shapes that appear through the layers suggest boats, while the buildings on the left have not been definitively identified but may represent Venice’. However in my first thought, I could see a boat in the middle of the see being surrounded by thick layer of fog as the night time approached during sunset. However it is clearly to everyone’s eye to decided what they can see in this painting.
Another thing I found out whilst being in Tate museum, was that there was a Henri Matisse exhibition going on. (Scott Naismith has said in his online video that Matisse’s art work inspires him, and has especially done so for his painting ‘Sisters of Glencoe’) I wanted to go see Matisse’s exhibition however due to a large amount of other viewers going to see his work, there were only tickets to see his work a few hours latter, which was unsuitable for me. However I did go to his ‘gift shop’ where I purchased some postcards of his work (that are in the folder) that is ‘The Snail’ 1953 and ‘The Parakeet and the Mermaid’ 1952.
(Photographs, taken in the Henri Matisse art shop in London Tate Museum)
Even though I could not see Matisse’s work, I got to see some other artist work in the free gallery, which gave me ideas and inspirations (even if I will not use these artists in my work it is still useful to see how others work and see their techniques up close) Here are some pictures bellow.
Ibrahim El-Salahi ’Reborn Sounds of Childhood Dreams’ 1961-1965. Enamel paint and oil paint on cotton.
Leon Golub ‘Vietnam II’ , 1973, Acrylic on Linen. (This painting has given me an understanding how effective large scaled paintings may look,as it enriches the detail, and the feeling of the surrounding)
Above Lee Ufan ‘From Line’ 1978, oil paint and glue on canvas.
The artist would make long downward lines until the paint on the paintbrush would be used up, and so he would repeat the process.
Niki de Saint Phalle ’Shooting picture’ 1961, Tirage, plaster, paint, string, polythene and wire on wood.
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