The
Independent Turner
Society
Turner
House, 153 Cromwell Road, London SW5 OTQ, Great Britain
Tel
& Fax: 020 7373
5560; Mobile: 07918
916381
President:
Mary Archer-Shee
Vice-President:
Stanley Warburton Chairman:
Robert
Walmsley
Treasurer: Dominique
Lambert Secretary: Selby
Whittingham
At a fundraising
event for Turner Contemporary, Margate, held
at the RIBA on 17 June, Sir Nicholas Serota said that the Tate
will lend to it “any Turner it [TCM] chooses”
(Londoner’s
Diary, Evening Standard, 18 June).
This is in line with that Tate policy of scattering
the Turner Bequest which is fatally destructive of the idea of a proper
Turner
Gallery as Turner conceived it.
This could only
happen with the connivance of Turner’s admirers today, who either
keep any
disagreement to themselves or actively support a policy which will
eventually
end in the disaster of a plane crash
(that of the Air France airbus reminding us of that hazard).
Among the
supporters is the artist Sandy Mallet.
More intelligently in a piece in the Antiques Trade
Gazette (16 May, “Creating
a feast for all the senses”) he has taken a leaf out of the
Turner Museum’s
book, advocating involvement of all five senses in the appreciation of
art, and
pointing out the long association of painting and music.
Professor Ken Howard RA is one of a number of
artists who paints while listening to music.
Our visit to his London studio (formerly that of Sir William
Orpen,
Michael Noakes etc.) on 14 May was much enjoyed by all.
Ken and Dora hospitably entertained us and
Ken related the story of his life and of his gradual acquisition of his
treasured studio. He has just completed
the first volume of his autobiography.
The Turner Museum
has
reported a step towards creating a new museum building – the
provision
of a site at Sarasota of two acres.
Graham Heathcote, who has undergone a major
operation, announces the launch of his long-awaited blog
– www.putneypapers.com
A visit to
celebrate the restoration of the graves of John
James and Margaret Ruskin at St John
the Evangelist, Shirley, Croydon, on 18 July, 2.30pm, has been arranged
by the
Ruskin Society. www.midwarks.info/ruskinsoc
A further impetus
towards a full account of Turner’s
family has been given by new claimants to a relationship with the
artist. One has suggested that the most
decisive way forward would be for everyone concerned to undergo a DNA
test.
Professor Norman Gash CBE FBA
(1912-2009) was
the subject
of an obituary in The Times (18
June), which pronounced his biography of Sir Robert Peel “perhaps
the most
judicious of all important modern biographies.”
Twenty years ago he said of the 1st edition of An
Historical Account of the Will of J.M.W.Turner, R.A, “on
your main
conclusions I find myself very much in agreement.”
23 September 2009
– 24 January 2010. Turner and the Masters. Tate
Britain.
Selby Whittingham
21
June 2009