Works by JMW Turner, whose painting ’The Fighting Temeraire’ was voted ’The Greatest Painting in Britain’ are coming to Barnstaple this summer.
In a first for the Barnstaple and North Devon museum, the Tate has agreed to loan out significant Turner works from his 19th century tours of the Westcountry.
The ‘Barnstaple Bridge at Sunset’ watercolour will be on loan from the Tate for the duration of the exhibition, which seeks to explore the artist’s connection to Barnstaple and North Devon, as well as the artist’s painting legacy, inspiring modern-day artists to paint North Devon.
Alongside the watercolour, one of Turner’s Westcountry sketchbooks will be on show, which documents his travels around the picturesque parts of the South West, as well as contemporary prints of Turner’s work while he travelled in the South West, on loan from the University of Exeter.
The exhibition is to be a celebration of Turner’s work but also his connection to Barnstaple.
Museum Manager Alison Mills said: “Not many people know that the father of Britain’s best-loved painter, JMW Turner, was a North Devon man, and that the painter visited Barnstaple in 1811.
“We are really excited that the Tate is lending us some of the works he created here – and we hope the opportunity to see his work and find out more will inspire those living here now.”
The artwork forms part of the Turner Bequest - a collection of oil paintings, sketches and watercolours held at the Tate. The museum of Barnstaple and North Devon was granted permission to have parts of the collection on loan after a request was submitted a year ago. The setting of the artwork in Barnstaple was paramount to the acceptance of the loan proposal.
Alison explains: “Borrowing a Turner painting from the Tate, even a small one, is only possible if the receiving museum can satisfy high levels of environmental control and security.
“The Museum of Barnstaple and North Devon’s Long Bridge Wing extension opened in 2019. This new space allows us to borrow items from National Museums, and the Turner watercolour was top of our list.
“The nationals are expected to facilitate loans where they can but it is a complicated process, and it tends to be the major city museums that have the resources to do this. So, this is very special for us!”
Phil Parker of Artmakers UK, a CIC of 190 North Devon artists, said: “Turner inspires much admiration in the British public but it is the sheer range of his works, from architectural studies and etchings to impressionist paintings, which lights up the imagination of so many of today’s New Atlantic Wave artists in North Devon.”
The Turner in Barnstaple exhibition is set to run from July 20 to October 12 and has sparked North Devon’s Summer of Painting with many events - including the showcasing of local artists' work inspired by Turner at the Art Upstairs gallery in Bideford.