Symposium

J. M. W. Turner | State of the Field Symposium (Day 1)

The symposium schedule and speaker biographies and abstracts are available for download here

This two-day symposium will consider the state and meaning of scholarship on J. M. W. Turner (1775–1851), one of Britain’s most celebrated artists. Thinking through the extensive Turner historiography, this symposium will explore some of the key ideas, underlying assumptions, and future directions of research. Panelists will consider the place of their research within the broader field of British studies.  

This symposium will be held online on Friday, September 22, and Saturday, September 23, 2023

Turner Symposium Program 

All times are Eastern Daylight Time.

 

Friday, September 22

Welcome 
9–9:10 am
Courtney J. Martin, Yale Center for British Art 

Introduction
9:10–9:25 am
Turner in 2025 at the Yale Center for British Art
Lucinda Lax, Yale Center for British Art 

Keynote Conversation 
9:25–10:25 am
Amy Concannon, Tate Britain, in conversation with Richard Johns, University of York
Moderated by Tim Barringer, Yale University

Break
10:25–10:35 am

Panel 1: Works on Paper and in the Environment
Chair:  Sarah Mead Leonard, Yale Center for British Art
10:35–11:55 am

Turner’s Pencil: Graphite Landscapes and Extractive Industry
Tobah Aukland-Peck, The Graduate Center, CUNY

“To be broken up”: Turner, English Landscape, and the Anthropo(s)cenic 
Frédéric Ogée, Université Paris Cité

A Historiographical Lacuna: Turner’s Prints 
Gillian Forrester, independent scholar

Break
11:55 am–12:05 pm
 

Panel 2: Sharing Turner
Chair: Richard Johns, University of York
12:05–1:25 pm

Technical Studies for Turner: How Well Do We Share Knowledge?
Joyce Townsend, Tate Britain 

The J. M. W. Turner Database: New Approaches to Documenting Turner for the 21st Century
Ian Warrell, independent scholar, and David Hill, University of Leeds

Cataloging Turner’s Sketchbooks, Drawings, and Watercolors
Amy Concannon, Hayley Flynn, and Matthew Imms, Tate Britain

Top image
Joseph Mallord William Turner, Staffa, Fingal's Cave (detail), 1831 to 1832, oil on canvas, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection

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Symposium

J. M. W. Turner | State of the Field Symposium (Day 2)

Saturday, September 23, 2023, 9 am–12:45 pm ET