Turner’s House celebrates unveiling of the new £20

The new £20 featuring J.M.W. Turner and his work was unveiled today, 10th October 2019, by The Bank of England, to which Turner’s House Trust has responded by planning a series of events in 2020 to celebrate.

It was announced this morning that the new note, which will be printed on polymer, will be issued on 20 February 2020. 

The design will feature:

o J.M.W. Turner’s self-portrait, painted c. 1799 and currently on display in Tate Britain.

o Turner’s painting The Fighting Temeraire; a tribute to the ship HMS Temeraire which played a decisive role in Nelson’s victory at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. In 2005, it was voted Britain’s greatest painting in a BBC poll.

o The quote - “Light is therefore colour” from an 1818 lecture by Turner referring to his innovative use of light, shade, colour and tone in his pictures.

o Turner’s signature from his Will, the document with which he bequeathed many of his paintings to the nation.

The Bank’s Governor, Mark Carney, said, “Our banknotes celebrate the UK’s heritage, salute its culture, and testify to the achievements of its most notable individuals. And so, it is with the new £20 banknote, featuring JMW Turner, launched today at Turner Contemporary in Margate. Turner’s contribution to art extends well beyond his favourite stretch of shoreline. Turner’s painting was transformative, his influence spanned lifetimes, and his legacy endures today. The new £20 note celebrates Turner, his art and his legacy in all their radiant, colourful, evocative glory.”

Turner designed his house in Twickenham, his only 3D artwork, and enjoyed it as his rural retreat at the time he made the famous quote about light. His portrait, signature and most popular painting will now feature on another 2 billion works of art – the new £20 notes. 

Turner’s House Trust are supporting the issue of the new note next year by planning a programme of events throughout 2020. These include their first exhibition of Turner’s original work; a Turner Day on June 11th featuring talks on his life and work, including the painting The Fighting Temeraire; family printmaking workshops creating personalised banknotes, and studying Turner’s self-portrait – the image that will appear on the £20 note. You can find out more and book these events via their website  turnershouse.org/whats-on/.

“Turner’s House Trust are delighted to be working with The Bank of England to explore ways of celebrating the new £20 and introducing new audiences to one of Britain’s most important artists, his house and ground breaking work,” said Michael Deriaz, Vice-Chair of Turner’s House Trust.

Turner’s House, Sandycombe Lodge, 40 Sandycoombe Road, St Margarets, Twickenham TW1 2LR is open Wednesday-Sunday: 12–1pm: Self-guided visits, and 1-4pm: Guided Tours turnershouse.org. Social Media Twitter: @TurnersHouse Facebook Instagram.

Turners House - Moon installation unveiled the week we celebrate moon landing

Carvell's sculpture evokes the magic of a moonlit garden and was inspired by Turner’s nighttime painting, Fishermen at Sea (The first oil painting Turner exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1796 and now at Tate Britain).  The focal point is an abstract moon above a tower, which he had originally designed for his home. It also features the coloured lay-light above the stairs, and to the right are clouds photographed at Richmond one day when Carvell had just left the lodge; the stairs fan out to add a sense of motion leading down to vivid fuchsia foxgloves which add colour to this part of the garden in the summer. Nicky used colourful oil pastels to amplify and abstract feelings of joy in British summertime. Bottom right in the piece is a detail of a Turquerie carpet which Turner and his father were known to have collected, an example of which can be seen in the bedroom.  The sculpture is curved to mirror the architecture of Sandycombe Lodge and the plinth has been designed in the shape of an eye.

It is one of two pieces which play with the notion of light passing through coloured surfaces in two translucent sculptures; Solus Lodge is installed in the house and the other called Moon Dial will be placed in the garden in which Turner’s father worked. The piece is designed to cast ever-changing coloured patterns and shadows onto the ground much like a sun dial does. The curved panels have been made from thick acrylic with painted and vinyl wrapped elements and an implied 'sun' and 'moon' at the pinnacle of both works made from metal.

The pieces also give a visual nod to the replicated boat models in the house and the outlines of ships which Turner painted such as Admiral Van Tromp's Barge.

“I love the curves in forms as these big ships confront the winds, holding strong in the storm. And as the Lodge is situated near the river, I wanted to keep this nautical theme and for this interaction with nature to be apparent in the works in an abstract manner”.

The sculptures have been decorated with textures from both the house, garden and river (such as the penny line pointing between the brickwork and the Turquerie rugs) bringing the inside outside and vice-versa. Semi-circular forms echo both the shape of the windows throughout the house and rainbows in his paintings such as Arundel Castle on the River Arun, with a Rainbow.

Repeat viewings of the house and garden will reward visitors with the sculptures’ constantly changing appearance along with the weather, emulating Turner's genius in capturing mutable moments in time.

Turner’s House, Sandycombe Lodge, 40 Sandycoombe Road, St Margarets, Twickenham TW1 2LR is open Wednesday-Sunday: 12–1pm: Self-guided visits, and 1-4pm: Guided Tours turnershouse.org. Social Media Twitter:@TurnersHouse  Facebook Instagram

FIRST EXHIBITION OPENS AT TURNER’S HOUSE Miniature Lands of Myth and Memory

Turner’s House opens its first exhibition on Friday February 1st 2019, a selection of Turner’s illustrations for Sir Walter Scott’s poetry and prose, part of the house’s permanent collection.

Visitors will be transported back in time and space from the artist’s modest villa in Twickenham, his only home now open to the public and which he designed himself, to the sublime landscapes of the Anglo-Scottish Borders and Western Highlands and the warmer climes of France and Italy.

The exhibition celebrates the work of Georgian Britain’s most celebrated artist and author and gives visitors a chance to view some of Turner’s lesser-known masterpieces in miniature. JMW Turner (1775-1851) and Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) were two of the most influential and successful artists of their day, with Scott’s poetry and prose breaking publishing sales records and Turner, fêted for his sublime, romantic landscapes.

Turner and Scott first collaborated in 1818 on the Provincial Antiquities and Picturesque Scenery of Scotland, while Turner was still living at his Twickenham villa, Sandycombe Lodge. This exhibition, the first ever to be staged at Turner’s newly-restored home, focusses on their last collaboration before Sir Walter’s death in 1832; the illustrations to his Poetical Works and Turner’s next commission, the designs for the Life of Napoleon Buonaparte.

Combining Turner’s exquisite designs and Scott’s powerfully evocative text, Miniature Lands of Myth and Memory will take the visitor on a time-travelling journey through the north of England, the contested Border country between England and Scotland and the wild Western Highlands. Visitors are invited to follow a trail of landscapes, antiquities, folk tales and ballads that inspired Scott’s poetry, before turning to recent history, the warmer climes of France and Italy and the battle fields of Napoleonic Europe.

Historian and author Dr Jacqueline Riding, Trustee of Turner’s House and curator of the exhibition says: “We are thrilled to launch 2019 with our first exhibition, which focusses on two of Georgian Britain’s cultural greats. Turner and Scott were uniquely suited. Both viewed topography as landscapes of myth and memory, the silent witnesses of past ages and more recent history. Turner’s exquisite designs, translated into elegant engraved miniatures, are a fitting celebration of the source of Scott’s inspiration and his extraordinary creativity.”

The exhibition, which launches Turner’s House Trust’s programme of events for 2019, will run from Friday February 1st until Sunday July 28th 2019. Admission is included in the standard entrance fee and a full colour, 22 page exhibition catalogue is available.

Turner’s House, Sandycombe Lodge, 40 Sandycoombe Road, St Margarets, Twickenham TW1 2LR is open Wednesday-Sunday: 12 –1pm: Self-guided visits, and 1-4pm: Guided Tours turnershouse.org. Social Media Twitter: @TurnersHouse  Facebook Instagram

Image Credits -  Kilianosullivan.com

Award winning Turner’s House holds their first annual lecture on Turner’s World View

Critically acclaimed biographer, Franny Moyle, is to give the Turner’s House Trust’s inaugural lecture on 'Turner's World View' on Thursday 20th September at 6.30pm in the Hyde Room at York House, Richmond Road, Twickenham TW1 3AA.

Moyle’s research on Turner’s career showed how it spanned an era that saw revolution and chaos on the continent, the battles of Trafalgar and Waterloo, and sailing ships and steam engines. In her acclaimed biography, The Extraordinary Life and Momentous Times of J.M.W Turner, she demonstrated how he was an avid traveller who was inspired by the sublime power of the Alps and rediscovered Venice for a new generation.

“People tend to think of Turner as a Victorian painter and consider his late paintings– often referred to as impressionistic in style - as defining his work” says Moyle. “ I wanted to reveal the Turner who was born a Georgian, whose work spanned both the C18th and C19th and explored several styles and approaches before settling on an ‘indistinct’ manner at the end of his career. In this talk, I want to remind people of the many different Turners there are, but also explore how a consistent worldview, one rooted in the transitive and turbulent era in which he lived, underpins them all”.

“I also have to say that I’m delighted that proceeds from the talk will contribute to the upkeep of Turner’s house which I visited before its transformation. This house represents an important legacy, and is, of course, an expression of Turner’s creativity. It brings us closer to the man”.

Her talk will show how Turner is one of the most important figures in Western art and evoke through words and pictures an 18th and 19th century Britain and Europe in flux. All profits raised will help to sustain the future of Turner’s House, an extraordinary piece of Richmond Borough’s history. Tickets are on sale now for £10 including a glass of wine. Book here.

Turner’s House, Sandycombe Lodge, 40 Sandycoombe Road, St Margarets. Twickenham TW1 2LR is open from Wed - Sun 10-4 PM turnershouse.org. Social Media Twitter: @TurnersHouse  Facebook Instagram