Looking Closely at an Artwork
Activity #4
Embedded Files
Calais Pier
Calais Pier
By Joseph Mallord William Turner
It was fairly simple to locate this image. I clicked on the The National Gallery, London website, was met with some cookies, immediately went to the search bar and searched up "Turner".
I looked through the first 6 images and clicked the one that most interested me: Calais Pier, because of it's chaos. The other paintings didn't pull my attention mainly because it was a lot harder to make out what those images were.
The Museum Website
The Museum Website
The National Gallery, London website presents the art piece pretty nicely, giving both an overview and an in-depth description to learn about the history of the painting. The painting depicts an event of Turner's own life, when he was traveling "from Dover to Calais in 1802 on his first trip abroad and was ‘nearly swampt‘ in a storm at sea". This description also talks about criticism and praise of the work. It gives a whole narrative description of the painting, detailing what is represented, his inspirations, and how the work was viewed in person. However, the description doesn't talk about it's place in all of Turner's work.
A Close Look
A Close Look
The first thing I see when I look at the painting is the big boat in the center, as well as the opening in the clouds, as they're the brighter elements of the piece. Then I see the brutal waves, as I try to figure out what is happening. I then start to look and follow all the people to see what they're doing. Those on the boats are faced with the challenging tides while those on the pier are resting mostly.
With Close Looking, I circled the focus areas. The destructive nature is taking over the clouds and the seas. It is also spilling onto the pier, and bringing a danger to all the people. The environment serves as a driving force that can dangerously affect humans and the external world, not just a passive or beautiful thing, as seen with the rough impasto texture of the water. This was one of the significant elements, as typically viewers in that time would be used to seeing smooth oceans.
Works Cited
Works Cited
Turner, Joseph Mallord William. Calais Pier. 1803, The National Gallery, https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/joseph-mallord-william-turner-calais-pier. Oil on canvas, 172 × 240 cm.
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