Friday, October 19, 2007 at 1:01am
Light everywhere
Column: Interesting Times
Light: It's all about the light. There, near the middle top of many of his works, is light.
I'd really never noticed before that J.M.W. Turner's work was about light, but with 145 paintings and watercolors layered throughout rooms of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the light is impossible to miss. I left the exhibition on a spectacular autumn day last weekend in awe not only of the massive collection assembled for this show but curious as to why all official descriptions of the exhibit omit any mention of the mystical and spiritual elements apparent in Turner's work.
One Gallery blurb says: "Rising from a modest background, Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851) became the leading British artist of his era. Over the course of six decades, he transformed the genre of landscape through works that proclaimed him heir to the old masters even while they heralded a new and visionary direction in 19th-century painting." But, I think that the use of the word "visionary" here refers to his impact on painting to come. Perhaps I misread, but one cannot misread the paintings. They shout out that the Christ, the Light of the world, is present in every storm, in every tranquil pastoral scene, hovering over manor houses and even present in the great fire of Oct. 16, 1834, which destroyed almost all of the Palace of Westminster, the Houses of Parliament.
Claude Monet's later works are not as impressionistic as Turner's decades-earlier watercolors of the fire — some say he went out onto the Thames River in a small boat to witness the conflagration. Those watercolors drip with color, water, impressions of smoke and fire with the light always present. I felt as if I were in the skiff with Turner.
Light was everywhere I looked last weekend. Not only in the flawlessly clear skies over the National Mall — light was the source of the competition for the Solar Decathlon exhibited there, where student-built homes powered by the sun were on display and crowds of young and old waited patiently in line to tour the innovative houses.
Light was the riveting central image over, above and around Cate Blanchett in the new movie "Elizabeth: The Golden Age." As Elizabeth I, hair flowing loose, silver-white armor atop a white horse, she roused England's citizens to withstand the Spanish Armada. The artistic implications were clear — Christ was present over, above and around that moment — a defining one for England, for Protestants and citizens of the West then and now. Though, as one reviewer said, "Elizabeth had to fight not only the Spanish Armada but her script writers," that light-filled scene in "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" is stunning, and my moviegoing partner and I both nearly wept through our goosebumps. Saving civilization on the back of a white horse is bound to evoke that response.
Light was there with Turner, he tells us through his painting; the light was there with Queen Elizabeth, we learn from the movie's director; the light poured out for the students and their solar houses, as I saw for myself.
For those not going to the Turner exhibit, some of the work can be seen here online.
May you all expand your horizons and have as light-filled a weekend as I did.
— — —
Lynne Bundesen is the author of five books on religion and was adjunct professor at the Boston Theological Institute under a Templeton Science and Religion Grant. She is currently the spiritual expert for the physical and spiritual health website of Dr. Andrew Weil. Her book "The Feminine Spirit: Recapturing the Heart of Scripture" was just published. Her email address is {email lynnebundesen@hotmail.com}lynnebundesen@hotmail.com{/email}. © Copyright 2007 by Lynne Bundesen.
I'd really never noticed before that J.M.W. Turner's work was about light, but with 145 paintings and watercolors layered throughout rooms of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the light is impossible to miss. I left the exhibition on a spectacular autumn day last weekend in awe not only of the massive collection assembled for this show but curious as to why all official descriptions of the exhibit omit any mention of the mystical and spiritual elements apparent in Turner's work.
One Gallery blurb says: "Rising from a modest background, Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851) became the leading British artist of his era. Over the course of six decades, he transformed the genre of landscape through works that proclaimed him heir to the old masters even while they heralded a new and visionary direction in 19th-century painting." But, I think that the use of the word "visionary" here refers to his impact on painting to come. Perhaps I misread, but one cannot misread the paintings. They shout out that the Christ, the Light of the world, is present in every storm, in every tranquil pastoral scene, hovering over manor houses and even present in the great fire of Oct. 16, 1834, which destroyed almost all of the Palace of Westminster, the Houses of Parliament.
Claude Monet's later works are not as impressionistic as Turner's decades-earlier watercolors of the fire — some say he went out onto the Thames River in a small boat to witness the conflagration. Those watercolors drip with color, water, impressions of smoke and fire with the light always present. I felt as if I were in the skiff with Turner.
Light was everywhere I looked last weekend. Not only in the flawlessly clear skies over the National Mall — light was the source of the competition for the Solar Decathlon exhibited there, where student-built homes powered by the sun were on display and crowds of young and old waited patiently in line to tour the innovative houses.
Light was the riveting central image over, above and around Cate Blanchett in the new movie "Elizabeth: The Golden Age." As Elizabeth I, hair flowing loose, silver-white armor atop a white horse, she roused England's citizens to withstand the Spanish Armada. The artistic implications were clear — Christ was present over, above and around that moment — a defining one for England, for Protestants and citizens of the West then and now. Though, as one reviewer said, "Elizabeth had to fight not only the Spanish Armada but her script writers," that light-filled scene in "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" is stunning, and my moviegoing partner and I both nearly wept through our goosebumps. Saving civilization on the back of a white horse is bound to evoke that response.
Light was there with Turner, he tells us through his painting; the light was there with Queen Elizabeth, we learn from the movie's director; the light poured out for the students and their solar houses, as I saw for myself.
For those not going to the Turner exhibit, some of the work can be seen here online.
May you all expand your horizons and have as light-filled a weekend as I did.
— — —
Lynne Bundesen is the author of five books on religion and was adjunct professor at the Boston Theological Institute under a Templeton Science and Religion Grant. She is currently the spiritual expert for the physical and spiritual health website of Dr. Andrew Weil. Her book "The Feminine Spirit: Recapturing the Heart of Scripture" was just published. Her email address is {email lynnebundesen@hotmail.com}lynnebundesen@hotmail.com{/email}. © Copyright 2007 by Lynne Bundesen.