Slave ship by J. M. W. Turner
Introduction
Marine painting has always amazed the viewers. One cannot help but remembering the name of Ivan Aivazovsky – the most prominent and well known marine artist in the worlds history. However, there were painters, who created only one or two paintings of the water. J. M. W. Turner has painted Slave ship almost two centuries ago – the painting was firstly exhibited in 1984. This painting is a magnificent example of Romantic maritime painting. This essay is devoted to the thorough analysis of the painting, and presenting the personal response to it. The essay will be divided into three parts. The first part will be devoted to the analysis of the painting. In the second part, I will explain the symbolism of the painting, whereas in the third part I will express my personal opinion on it.
Analysis
The painting is the oil on canvas work. The sizes are rather impressive: 90.8 x 122.6 cm. nowadays, the painting is exhibiting in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. My first glance was captured by the setting sun. From the very beginning it is difficult to understand the details. Moreover, when standing rather far from it, the details become invisible, one sees only a bright spot. However, when coming closer, one begins to see the details, as well as the deepness of the colors. In this part, I would like to highlight the main elements of the painting: color, lines, shapes.
As I have already mentioned above, the color of the painting is very deep. J. M. W. Turner used warm palette. It helped reduce somehow the impression of dead bodies and parts of human bodies. When analyzing the color of a painting, it is significant to mention the color theory. According to this theory, J. M. W. Turner used primary and tertiary colors mostly. The deepness of the color is highlighted by the brush strokes. One of the main issues to concern is the development of colors palette. Red and yellow – orange colors come from the upper left corner to the bottom right. However, the movement stops in the middle of the painting. The same goes for the sky that goes from the upper right corner to the bottom left. The artist used blue and white colors to show the sky. The point is that the sky ends in the middle. On the one hand, the bottom part of the painting – the sea – is the same on both sides. On the other hand, in the left side, one can clearly see the sea, the waves. Whereas, on the right side, is much darker. All the four elements meet in the center of the painting, around the sun.
Lines and shapes
The peculiarity of the painting is that there are almost no lines. The artist used only brush strokes. Indeed, when looking at the painting, it is difficult, almost impossible, to identify at least some clear sharp or smooth lines. Obviously, the artist used lines to paint the broken ship and dead bodies and the parts of human bodies. However, I should admit, that they seem so insignificant that one does not pay much attention to it.
When speaking about shapes, it is worth to mention that they are smooth. It always happens in the maritime painting that there are no clear lines and shapes. the point is that the sea and the sky does not have any clear geometric shape and sharp lines. When considering the details, like ship and people around it, I should mention that they are two dimensional. It helped the artist outlined the situation they are in. the people and the ship are surrounded only by the storming sea and the sky. In my opinion, the artist did not go much into details painting the ship and the people because he was not intended to show this very situation. He intended to show something more.
Symbolism
In my opinion, the painting is full of symbols. The first symbol is the sun in the center of the painting. The sun symbolizes life. On the contrary, there is the storming sea that symbolizes death. Obviously, the sea, as well as the ocean, can be calm. It is pleasant to swim in there, enjoy the warm water around one’s body. As well as it is pleasant to take a tan. On the contrary, both the sun and the sea can be destroying. This is what happening to the slaves on the board of the ship. The storm destroyed the ship, many people died, the rest of them were injured. They could do nothing. In my opinion, the artist wanted to show how cruel nature might be. During all the times, people disrespected the nature we were living in. in this painting, one seem how miserable people are when captured by the nature.
Personal response
As I have already mentioned in the previous part of the essay, the painting is full of symbols. Perhaps, I make a mistake. However, there are no mistakes in art: one sees what one can. In the painting, I could see the symbols of life and death and the cruelty of the nature. Perhaps, the artist wanted to show something different. However, looking at the painting in the twenty first century, in the times of environmental crisis, one begins to think about such meaning of the old painting.
I liked the picture greatly. I have already mentioned that J. M. W. Turner is one of the most prominent British painters. However, I think the painting was not very successful when it had been exhibited for the first time. The point is that in that times, the slaves existed and people could do almost nothing about it. They accepted the situation. On the other hand, J. M. W. Turner did not want to become the part of such cruel world. He was an abolitionist. Hence, I may conclude that in the painting he showed that slaves are human beings, just as their owners.
The painting made me think of many things. In the last two parts of the essay, I outlined two main points of view on the meaning of the painting. When looking at the work, I begin to think about both of the issues and decide which one is closer to the initial artist’s intent. In my opinion, the painting is great. Every person, obviously, can find something for one self in the painting. The point is that every person can find one’s own symbols that are understandable only for this very person. This is the magic of art – one sees it not with one’s eyes, but with one’s heart and soul. This very painting touched my soul deeply.
Resources:
Herman D. The slave ship.2013. John and Frances Beck.
Hirsh, D. The World of Turner 1775-1851. Time-Life Books. 1974
Turner, J.M.W. Joseph Mallard William Turner. Da Capo Press. 2002
Turner J. M. W. Slave Ship. N.d. Web. 03 March 2014
The elements of art. 2013. Web. 03 March 2014
The slave ship. British Romanticism. 2014. Web. 03 March 2014
