Review by Booklist Review
A titan of art, Turner is also popular enough to justify the addition of this scholarly work to many public libraries' art collections. The book resplendently reproduces 227 of the watercolor landscapes Turner made between 1810 and 1836 as the bases for 11 series of engravings. The series were immensely important to Turner's livelihood and for promoting his popularity, but the original artworks became the property of the engravers, who sold them off willy-nilly to collectors, or were reclaimed but never exhibited by the artist. Shanes' documentation and commentary in a hefty introduction and plate-by-plate annotation, although printed in eye-strainingly tiny type, are both informative and appreciative. Notes; index of titles and subjects. ~--Ray Olson
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review
The production of books on J.M.W. Turner has become virtually a cottage industry in the art publishing world. Happily, this work addresses a specific body of notable works by Britain's leading 19th-century watercolorist. Shanes, a prolific author and scholar of Turner paintings, brings together ``all traceable watercolours of scenery in England that Turner made between 1810 and 1836.'' These various topographical works have been scattered through a variety of publications over the years; they appear in this new book in a catalog-format presentation of illustration with relevant provenance information. The reproductions are generally of reliable quality, resulting in a practical survey of Turner's most successful topographical paintings, most of which were intended for book engravings, and dispersal to a mass market. Recommended for academic collections, and any library that needs another book on Turner watercolors, particularly those lacking Shanes's two earlier works on the subject ( J.M.W. Turner: The Foundation of Genius , Taft Museum, 1986; Turner's Human Land scapes , Heinemann, dist. by Trafalgar Sqiare, 1989).-- Paula A. Baxter, NYPL (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
