Welcome to
The Turner Society
The Turner Society was founded in 1975 and has members worldwide. It is devoted to furthering the appreciation and understanding of the art of Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851), who was not only Britain’s greatest painter but arguably the finest landscape and marine painter ever. Turner was enormously prolific, producing some 550 oil paintings, over 2,000 highly detailed and finely finished watercolours, and some 30,000 works on paper. His bequest to the nation is without doubt the greatest artistic legacy ever bestowed upon the United Kingdom (it is housed in Tate Britain, London, except for a few key works kept at the National Gallery).
The Society regularly mounts lectures and informal talks given by the world’s leading experts on the painter; it organises out-of-hours viewings of important public exhibitions of his work, as well as visits to the Study Room at Tate Britain where the Turner Bequest works on paper are held; and it arranges trips to see private collections that include works by Turner. In addition, it publishes a fine magazine, Turner Society News, which goes to all members twice a year, and it works tirelessly to deepen awareness of the range and power of Turner’s astonishing genius.
We hope you will join us.
“If I could find anything
blacker than black I’d use it.”
J.M.W. Turner
BEN STANSALL/AFP/Getty Images
The Turner Society offers a full programme of events. These include lectures by leading experts on the artist; visits to the Clore Gallery for the Turner Collection in London; and trips to important private collections not generally open to the public.
Please note these events are only open to members of the Turner Society and their guests. If you wish to become a member click here.
Society Events
The Vaughan Bequest of Turner Watercolours
National Gallery of Ireland, Merrion Square West, Dublin 2
Private view introduced by Anne Hodge
Anne Hodge, the Gallery’s Curator of Prints and Drawings, will provide us with private access to the annual display of the Vaughan Bequest and accompanying material, prior to the display being open to the public.
‘Turner’s Petworth and Fittleworth Drawings’
Prints & Drawings Room, Clore Gallery for the Turner Collection, Tate Britain, Millbank, London SW1P 4RG
Talk by Nick Reese
Following last year’s highly successful talk on the West Country drawings, Nick Reese examines Turner’s drawings made in and around Petworth and Fittleworth, destinations which the Society is to visit in June.
‘Turner’s Italian Odyssey: An In-Depth Look at the Italian Sketchbooks of 1819 and 1828’
Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, 16 Bedford Square, London WC1B 3JA
Lecture by Nicola Moorby
2019 marks two hundred years since one of Turner’s most significant European expeditions, his first tour of Italy, an experience which both consolidated and expanded his landscape vision. Drawing upon recent cataloguing of the Italian sketchbooks, this talk will discuss his approach to Italy’s treasures and traditions and examine how he assimilated that material within his wider practice.