The Clore Gallery, a new wing of London’s Tate Gallery, is devoted to the enormous body of work that J. M. W. Turner left to the British nation. It’s designed in a subdued postmodern style, a style that wouldn’t have raised eyebrows fifty years ago and will probably look equally appropriate in the year 2039. Here Turner is shown complete, the later, mystically vaporized Turners that were esteemed in the 1960s together with the earlier, more conventionally picturesque Turners that returned to favor in the historically-minded 1970s. In special galleries, watercolors and drawings that can’t be exposed to light for long periods of time appear in rotating exhibitions. While I was in London in January, the temporary show focused on Turner’s “Second Decade: 1800-1810” and included much work done during his visits to the Continent. All in all, the Clore Gallery is a sophisticated solution...

 

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