The National Gallery & Tate Britain visits

During my Summer vacation, I've been thinking deeply about my current  practice and where my Journey might take me in an artistic sense.  I feel that there is so much more to develop, yet there is some pressure on me to specialise in some chosen area for my degree studies.  This conflicts a little with my notion of wanting to explore a much as possible during my journey too.  In an attempt to help me crystalise some of the styles and broad thinking I have recently taken much time to analyse the journeys of other artists, - particularly the great masters.

An opportunity to visit the National Gallery this weekend was not to be missed.  The inspiration I gained, and the reasurrance I needed - that the journey is never over, was nicely re-inforced to me through many works, some of my favourites being JWM Turner.  An allegorical image that I think is just right for my mind at the moment is The Fighting Téméraire.....

In this painting, which Turner completed perhaps at his peak of popularity, the old wooden warship, the Temeraire, is represented in an almost ghostly translucent state.  Its' final voyage to the breakers yard, but still capable of holding immense presence and power over the modern steam tug that is representing a symbol of newness, societal change and modernisation.  The old warship still holds it's importance and links to the romantic past, and this is alluded to by the ship in the far distance behind, in full sail towards the centre of the painting.   As Turner was in the grips of painting this, a new dawn in the culture around him was also emerging.  Turner seems to suggest this through the wonderful sky scene to the right of the painting.  The composition is virtually able to be split vertically down the middle and both halves are story in themselves.  However, both make the whole, - the gestalt, which overall combine to form a huge historical record of factuality, but also a record of progress, new beginnings, and a relentless cycle of rebirth.    I love this painting because of it's almost timeless qualities.   There are so many questions that this painting seems to raise too. There is dispute as to why a warship would be getting tugged at the end of the day, as the sun is setting, and technically, the view would be towards the east, from whence the ship has come from -  English Channel.  I would like to suggest though, that it may be getting pulled back down the Thames, after it has been shown to the fond public for the last time nearer central London.  I might also suggest, if you examine the right hand side of the painting in more detail, the ssilhouetteof the houses of parliament and Big Ben can be seen (as a river side view from the south)... This would make the placing of the warship more feasible.  Nnevertheless this is pure hypothesis, as in reality, i seems likely that Turner created the composition virtually from his imagination!...

Turner's earlier studies also captured more mundane, nonetheless I think, truly real moments of life during the 1800s, and a classical example is shown below, in his works "A country Blacksmith disputingg the price of iron"...  You can almost hear the same conversation today when you go to a car tyre changing facility, or to a mechanics garage to get your tyres changed !