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
Annual General Meeting and the Annual Christmas Party
Conference Rooms, St James’s Church, Piccadilly, London SW1J 9LL (access via Church Place at the east end of the church)
Including ‘Turner’s Titles’ – lecture by Nick Powell.
Does it matter what we call Turner’s paintings? Theories about painting titles have been developed, broadly speaking, only in relation to the modern period, starting in the second half of the nineteenth century; Turner is the one earlier artist who has received much attention from the theorists. This talk will look at the remarkable variety of methods employed to identify/explain Turner’s works from his lifetime to the present day: by the artist himself, printmakers, cataloguers, curators and registrars. It will consider just what counts as a title and will examine the purpose (or purposes) of Turner titles and their effect on the viewer.
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.