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
‘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.
Visit to Petworth and Fittleworth
Petworth House, West Sussex, GU28 9LR
The Society will make a return visit to Petworth House for a tour guided by its Collections Manager, Andrew Loukes. After picnicking or lunching at Petworth, we shall also visit Fittleworth Mill from 2.30 p.m., where we shall be shown round by a member of the owner’s family and be served light refreshments.
‘The Teaching Collection of the Ruskin School of Drawing’
Ashmolean Museum, Beaumont Street, Oxford, OX1 2PH
Talk by Colin Harrison
To celebrate the bicentenary of the birth of John Ruskin on 8 February 1819, Colin Harrison, Senior Curator of European Art in the Department of Western Art, will introduce a selection of the Turner watercolours presented by Ruskin to his old university, together with other watercolours which formed part of the Teaching Collection in the Ruskin School of Drawing.