Turner Monet Twombly:
Later Paintings
22 June–28 October 2012
Tate Liverpool
Albert Dock
Liverpool, L3 4BB
Open every day
T 0151 702 7400
www.tate.org.uk/liverpool
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This ambitious and visually opulent exhibition brings together over sixty works by JMW Turner (1775–1851), Claude Monet (1840–1926), and Cy Twombly (1928–2011) from museums, private collections, and foundations worldwide. All three artists were considered radical painters in their time, and met with criticism for pushing the boundaries of conventional painting. Focussing on a period of public and critical acceptance when the outward battles had been won, Turner Monet Twomby: Later Paintings reveals how these extraordinary artists produced some of their most stunning and experimental works later in life.
The influence of Turner on Monet has been well documented, and Twombly was a keen admirer of both. However, this exhibition examines not only the art historical links and affinities between these important artists, but also exposes common characteristics and motivations underlying their later works. During this time they engage in the struggle to come to terms with the passage of time, mortality, and loss, while asserting a continuing vitality through sensuality and eroticism. In seven themes, including an interest in the Sublime and the representation of atmosphere, Turner, Monet, and Twombly are brought together, not in competition, but as a means to explore the ways in which artists share interests, values, and preoccupations.
The exhibition is constructed as a dialogue enabling the artists to converse across centuries, questioning and challenging each other as though each were present in the same room at the same time. Through judicious juxtaposition of their work, the modernity and undiminished relevance of Turner and Monet is underlined while strong classical traits are simultaneously revealed in Twombly’s paintings and sculptures. Tate Liverpool’s presentation will particularly highlight this, bringing together for the first time works by Turner and Twombly inspired by the same tragic myth, that of Hero and Leander, made almost exactly 150 years apart. Furthermore, large-scale recent works by Twombly will be shown alongside Monet’s iconic studies of water lilies, emphasising the impact that these works had on the 1950s New York art world and the subsequent reclamation of Monet as a modern master.
A fully illustrated catalogue, with an in-depth essay by Jeremy Lewison, will accompany the exhibition.
Turner Monet Twombly: Later Paintings is organised by Moderna Museet, Stockholm (8 October 2011–15 January 2012) in collaboration with Tate Liverpool and Staatsgalerie Stuttgart (11 February–28 May 2012). The exhibition is curated by Jeremy Lewison, formerly Tate Director of Collections and now an independent curator, assisted by Jo Widoff, Moderna Museet, and at Tate Liverpool by Eleanor Clayton.
For further information please contact Tate Liverpool Press Office:
rachel.gutteridge [at] tate.org.uk or ami.guest [at] tate.org.uk / T 0151 702 7444/5.
Supported by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). With additional support from the National Lottery through Arts Council England; Liverpool City Council; Liverpool Vision; and U.S. Embassy, London.
*Image above:
Claude Monet, Water-Lilies, 1916–1919. Courtesy Fondation Beyeler, Riehen, Basel Photo by Robert Bayer, Basel.
