The Year of Reading Proust discussion
Preliminary Reading
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Ruskin, Lectures on Architecture and Painting, Lecture 3 - 12/09
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Proustitute wrote: "Aloha wrote: "Turner is my favorite landscape artist."Me, too, and then Whistler. I look forward to encountering them more when Proust mentions them. :)"
Same here, in that order, too.
The notebook images are wonderful!
Ruskin's history of art from Giotto on...was clear, caused & interesting, a segue into Lecture 4, Pre-Raphaelitism.
Simon Schama in his The Power of Art has a good chapter on Turner. There are also the DVDs with the TV programs for which the book was the companion.
I enjoyed this lecture. It was engaging to see Ruskin jump to the defense of Turner's personality. I thought he was especially compelling as he discussed the many contributions Turner made to landscape painting.
This quotation jumped out at me:
"Turner, therefore, was the first man who presented us with the type of perfect landscape art: and the richness of that art, with which you are at present surrounded, and which enables you to open your walls as it were into so many windows, through which you can see whatever has charmed you in the fairest scenery of your country, you will do well to remember as Turneresque."
I thought it was a particularly eloquent description of Turner's ability to move away from conventions in landscape painting and instead to paint what he saw. Ruskin's lauding the ability to paint from nature seems like a corollary to Proust's focus on the small details he observed in life in his own writing.
And building on Proustitute's comments about Ruskin's praising of a work ethic being another influence on Proust, I noted that Ruskin praises Turner for his work ethic, his willingness to paint any commission, and to treat each one as an opportunity to hone his skills and excel.
Flint Castle
Venice: The Dogana and San Giorgio Maggiore
Bay of Baiae
Breakers on a Flat Beach
The New Moon
Waves Breaking on a Lee Shore at Margate