Turner’s Fighting Temeraire is at Newcastle’s Laing gallery

A North East art gallery is presently hosting an ambitious exhibition of one of the world´s greatest artists – JMW Turner.

The exhibition centres on a work that the British public once voted as their favourite painting – The Fighting Temeraire (1839).

The painting has never been displayed in the North East before, but – as part of National Treasures, a programme marking the National Gallery´s 200th anniversary – the Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle has been lent one of the most recognised and important paintings in the country. 

Joining this incredible loan are more than 20 additional works by Turner, as well as works from artists such as L.S. Lowry, Tacita Dean and photographers John Kippin and Chris Killip.

Turner: Art, Industry & Nostalgia explores in detail the themes of The Fighting Temeraire that highlight the connection between this iconic image and the history of Tyneside.

The image of a retired naval vessel on its last journey carries ideas of industry and nostalgia, something that was exploited in 2012´s James Bond film Skyfall, where Bond meets the new Q in front of the painting.

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While Turner may not have based the steamboat in the picture on a specific vessel, it is particularly pertinent to the North East and its industrial heritage that the two steam tugboats that pulled the Temeraire in reality – the Samson and the London – were both manufactured on Tyneside.

Turner depicted a number of North East views during his lifetime and the exhibition showcases several examples, including Holy Island, Northumberland, a watercolour he made ten years before The Fighting Temeraire.

Dinant on the Meuse, painted by JMW Turner in about 1839, is another of the exhibits (Image: THE NATIONAL GALLERY)

Along with works such as Dinant on the Meuse (about 1839) it shows Turner´s pioneering watercolour technique.

The role of warships is also be charted extensively with loans from Tate, the Higgins Bedford, and The Whitworth, University of Manchester, as well as a model of the Temeraire from the early 19th-century.

Following on from Turner, more recent artistic interpretations of the British industrial landscape are also on display, from LS Lowry´s River Scene (1935), to Tacita Dean’s more conceptual exploration of Sheffield’s industrial chimneys.

Turner depicted a number of North East views during his lifetime, including this on of Dunstanburgh Castle, also on show in The Laing (Image: THE NATIONAL GALLERY)

The exhibition will close with John Kippin’s video piece ARC (2010), which documents the Tyneside-built warship the Ark Royal leaving the River Tyne for the last time.

Julie Milne, chief curator of art galleries for Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums said: “We are delighted to be partnering with the National Gallery on their 200th anniversary celebration.

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“The National Treasures programme. Art, Industry & Nostalgia showcases one of Turner’s greatest masterpieces at the Laing Art Gallery.

It is indeed a ‘National Treasure’ – The Fighting Temeraire in Newcastle provides us with the opportunity to connect with people’s shared histories and lived experience, to celebrate our cultural heritage and reflect on what is important to us individually and collectively.”

The exhibition runs at the gallery until Saturday, September 7. For more details, visit laingartgallery.org.uk/