Turner And Constable (art, Life, Landscape)

By (author) Moorby Nicola
Description:
Born just fourteen months apart, one in London and the other in rural Suffolk, J. M. W. Turner and John Constable went on to change the face of British art
 
The two men have routinely been seen as polar opposites, not least by their peers. Differing in temperament, background, beliefs, and vision, they created images as dissimilar as their personalities.
 
Yet in many ways they were fellow travellers. As children of the late eighteenth century, both faced the same challenges and opportunities. Above all, they shared common cause as champions of a distinctively British art. Through their work, they fought for the recognition and appreciation of landscape painting—and in doing so ensured their reputations were forever intertwined and interlinked.
 
Nicola Moorby offers us a fresh perspective on two extraordinary artists, uncovering the layers of fiction that have embellished and disguised their greatest achievements. For Turner & Constable is not just a tale of two artists; it is also the story of the triumph of landscape painting.
Review quote:
“Highly enjoyable and sharply written. . . . Moorby sets out to examine the artists ‘side by side instead of face to face’ and helps us to see them in a refreshingly new light.”—Bendor Grosvenor, Times (UK)

“Sorting fact from fiction, Moorby offers a fresh perspective on [Turner and Constable’s] careers while simultaneously charting the triumph of British landscape painting in the 18th century.”—Christie’s

“[A] full and perceptive study of two great artists.”—Robin Simon, Literary Review

“[Moorby’s] approach, which allows each artist’s work to be illuminated in terms of the other, provides a way of addressing what really matters in any artist’s life story: the work they leave behind.”—Ben Street, Times Literary Supplement

“Moorby fuses diverse perspectives in order to preserve the thrill of hagiography without sacrificing integrity to sensationalist accounts.”—Ella Nixon, The Critic


Biographical note:
Nicola Moorby is an independent art historian and curator specialising in British art of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, particularly J. M. W. Turner, British watercolour, and early British modernism.