From Library Journal
The Industrial Revolution was as much a revolution of ideas as it was of practical endeavors. To the concept of the forces of nature were added the human-made energies that transformed landscapes and lives. Rodner (history, Old Dominion Univ., Virginia) here reviews Turner's industrial art in the context of the changes in both the artistic community and the world in general. The impact upon the visual and the vision?the depiction of the haze of the factories, of the shadowy bulk of ocean steamers, and of newly found power and human weakness?are discussed in this study of a small but very important segment of the artist's oeuvre. A combination of social history and aesthetic commentary, the work is an interesting addition and offers a wider vision of this compelling artist. Recommended for academic and art collections.?Paula Frosch, Metropolitan Museum of Art Lib., New YorkCopyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Book Description
The English romantic painter J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851) is known and admired for portraying the transcendent power and turbulence of nature in his paintings of landscapes and storms at sea. But, as William S. Rodner's beautifully illustrated book makes clear, Turner also drew inspiration from the sweeping new forces of the Industrial Revolution that were to transform Britain and the world during his lifetime. Rodner considers Turner's paintings of machine subjects as invaluable visual sources for understanding the impact of the Industrial Revolution. He assesses the full range of Turner's industrial art and the context of its creation, examining particular facets of Turner's concern with industrialism. Such paintings as Rain, Steam, and Speed and Snow Storm: Steamboat off a Harbour's Mouth reveal the confidence and the anxiety associated with the period's wrenching social and economic transformations. Machines and workshops became sophisticated metaphors for human aspiration and weakness. Turner's industrial paintings were consistent with the larger themes that influenced his art, and in depicting the contest between steam power and environmental forces, he is unerring in his belief that nature always emerges triumphant.


About the Author
William S. Rodner is a historian and the editor of Scotia: Interdisciplinary Journal of Scottish Studies at Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

The English romantic painter J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851) is known and admired for portraying the transcent power and turbulence of nature in his paintings of landscapes and storms at sea. But, as William S. Rodner's beautifully illustrated book makes clear, Turner also drew inspiration from the sweeping new forces of the Industrial Revolution that were to transform Britain and the world during his lifetime. Rodner considers Turner's paintings of machine subjects as invaluable visual sources for understanding the impact of the Industrial Revolution. He assesses the full range of Turner's industrial art and the context of its creation, examining particular facets of Turner's concern with industrialism. Such paintings as Rain, Steam, and Speed and Snow Storm: Steamboat off a Harbour's Mouth reveal the confidence and the anxiety associated with the period's wrenching social and economic transformations. Machines and workshops became sophisticated metaphors for human aspiration and weakness. Turner's industrial paintings were consistent with the larger themes that influenced his art, and in depicting the contest between steam power and environmental forces, he is unerring in his belief that nature always emerges triumphant.