Turner and Monet: the missing link at the grand Canyon

The two great nineteenth century nature mystics, J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851) and Claude Monet (1844-1926) never actually journeyed in the American West. It is most likely that Monet would have seen some Turner paintings while living in London from September 1870- May 1871. We have letters from Camille Pissarro to his son during his stay in London during the Franco-Prussian War documenting the influence of Turner on his vision of open air painting. Pissarro became acquainted with Durand-Ruel the dealer at this time, and he introduced Pissarro to Claude Monet. They both viewed the works of John Constable and Turner during these London years.

The missing link between Turner and the wonderful landscapes of the American West, including the Grand Canyon, is Thomas Moran, born into a family of weavers in Bolton, England in 1867, but raised in America in Pennsylvania. Along with Albert Bierstadt, Thomas Hill and William Keith, he is sometimes called a member of the Rocky Mountain School of landscape painters because of all the western scenes they painted. Moran traveled to England in 1862 to see Turner's work and he often acknowledged that artist's influence on his use of color and choice of landscapes. (wikipedia) The result of this trip to England is that Moran's paintings look as though Turner had been reincarnated as a traveler and painter in the American West. The delicacy of his line and the beauty of his colors allow for a rendering of nature's magnificence that is both grand and beautifully refined. He was part of the survey team that first explored the Yellowstone region, and his sketches and paintings captured the imagination of the nation and helped establish Yellowstone as the first National Park. He visited the Grand Canyon in 1873 with John Wesley Powell and produced works such as "A Showery Day, Grand Canyon." that has made him the artist most closely associated with the great chasm in Arizona. One of his landscapes was the first landscape painting to ever be purchased by Congress, and one hangs today in the Oval Office in the White House. He continued Turner's romantic view of nature.

Like Turner and Monet, Moran also painted views of Venice. A great cache of his drawings is kept in the Gilcrease Museum, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. You can find a slide show of his works at www.thomas-moran.org. Enjoy.

Dr. Mary T. Morrell

San Antonio, Texas