Lives of the Artists, then and now
I went to the National Gallery (U.S.) yesterday and revisited the Hopper show that had started at the Museum of Fine Arts. Looks even better when you don’t have to pay $20 to see it! The more interesting show is Turner, with more of his paintings assembled in the U.S. than ever before. It is worth seeing the 30-minute film down in the basement before you visit the show.
The movie made it clear just how much more patience an artist needed to have in the old days. Turner dreamed of visiting Italy, for example, but the Napoleonic Wars prevented him from reaching that country until he was age 44. Turner often said that his only secret was “damned hard work”.
What modern artist is most comparable to Turner? You might think it should be Thomas Kinkade. Both work in landscape and have tried to elevate it to a higher status than formerly accorded. Kinkade sometimes visits galleries and adds “sparkle” to his paintings while buyers wait. Turner, I learned from the film, would go to the “varnishing period” just before a show at the Royal Academy. While other artists were merely applying some clear varnish, Turner would add the final touches of white and yellow to bring out the light in his paintings. So Kinkade is America’s Turner.
Who is Britain’s Turner? Damien Hirst! It is true that Turner never tried to exhibit a dead animal. On the other hand, both were the leading and highest priced British artists of their respective days. Speaking of prices, a recent New Yorker magazine talked about some simple spot paintings that Hirst (or his assistants) had done recently. Each sold for $1.5 million and nearly 1000 have been made. So Hirst’s sales from just this one series have totaled nearly $1.5 billion. Turner died, at the age of 76, after six decades of painstaking work and laborious travel, in 1851. According to the film, his estate was worth $8 million in current money.
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