Turner's daringly loose brushwork and dazzling colors shine in his watercolors J.M.W. Turner, one of Britain's greatest painters, is perhaps known best for his oil paintings. But he was a lifelong watercolorist, and he fundamentally reshaped what would be understood as possible within the medium, both during his lifetime and after. Edited in partnership with Tate Britain, where the majority of the artist's works are conserved, Conversations with Turner: The Watercolorsis published on the occasion of a major exhibition spanning the entirety of Turner's career. Divided into six thematic sections, it focuses on the critical role played by watercolors in defining Turner's personal style. The book brings together texts by prominent scholars of Turner's art, including the art historians and curators Tim Barringer, Alexander Nemerov, Oliver Meslay and Susan Grace Galassi. Comprised of 100 works (all of which are reproduced in this volume), the exhibition was selected from upward of 30,000 works on paper, 300 oil paintings, and 280 sketchbooks donated after the artist's death in 1851, as part of the collection known as the "Turner Bequest." Turner's innovations in watercolor are illustrated in this book through an emphasis on landscapes and seascapes, many of which were painted during Turner's long stays abroad in continental Europe and beyond. The works showcase the development of Turner's stylistic language, focused on experimentation with the expressive potential of light and color, which anticipated trends in late-19th-century painting. J.M.W. Turner(1775-1851) was a controversial figure throughout his career, despite being championed by Ruskin and having played a key role in the elevation of pure landscape painting as a genre, which he took to unprecedented levels of abstraction. He traveled widely in Europe, starting with France and Switzerland in 1802 and studying in the Louvre in Paris in the same year, and later making many visits to Venice.

One of the most popular painters of all time, J.M.W. Turner created a remarkable collection of sketchbooks over the course of his career. The 'Skies' sketchbook takes its name from its many richly coloured sky studies. Most of the sketches in the book were presumably observed in England, but a few many have been seen in Italy, Germany and the Netherlands. The dramatic consequence of the eruption of Mount Tambora in 1815m darkening skies and reddening sunsets around the world, surely caught his attention. Turner's more intensely-coloured studies may document these effects which lasted for over a year. This edition of the sketchbook reproduces all these beautiful drawings in near-facsimile.

JMW Turner is one of the greatest artists Britain has ever produced. His watercolours, with their extraordinary effects of shifting light and dramatic skyscapes, are especially highly regarded. For the first time, the secrets of Turner's technique are revealed, allowing present-day watercolourists to learn from his achievements.This book combines unrivalled knowledge of Turner's working methods from Tate curators and conservators with practical advice from some of the world's most respected watercolour experts. Twenty-two thematic exercises are illustrated with Turner's works. Expert contemporary watercolourists explain, step-by-step, how to paint a similar composition, learning from Turner's techniques. Packed with invaluable information, from the materials Turner used to achieve the masterpieces we know and love today, to the modern materials the twenty-first-century watercolour artist will need.Backed by the authority of Tate, the world centre for Turner scholarship, with a glossary of technical terms, this is an invaluable resource both for lovers of Turner's art and of watercolour painting.

1998 marks the 40th anniversary of the bequest to the British Museum by the collector Robert Wylie Lloyd (1868-1958) of fifty of Turner's finest watercolours. This book has been published to accompany a special exhibition of the collection.

This title examines the ways in which Turner consistently strove to confront Claude's achievement and legacy.