Joseph Mallord William Turner, Stormy Landscape with a Rainbow

Joseph Mallord William Turner, born London, England, 1775, died Chelsea, England, 1851. Stormy Landscape with a Rainbow, around 1824, watercolour on paper. Purchased in memory of Alan Flacks, 1999

British Watercolours from J.M.W. Turner to Beatrix Potter

February 29 - October 25

Located on the main floor in gallery 127, the Mulvihill Gallery.

Admission is always FREE for AGO Members, AGO Annual Pass Holders & Visitors 25 and under. Learn more.

EXHIBITION OVERVIEW

Watercolour is an accessible, inexpensive, and yet surprisingly complex art form. To make a watercolour painting, dry pigment is diluted in water mixed with a binding agent, and applied to paper with a brush. British artists in particular embraced the process, grappling with its technical challenges to achieve extraordinary effects. From the 1780s to today, it has been a preferred medium for interpreting the atmospheric effects of the British countryside.

The Art Gallery of Ontario began to build its extensive collection of British watercolours in the 1950s and early 1960s, when British ceramicist William Bower Dalton (1868–1965) donated 33 works to the gallery. Highlights from his donation, along with works acquired in the past few decades, testify to the freshness and luminosity that characterize watercolour painting at its best.

ARTWORKS FROM THE EXHIBITION

Joseph Mallord William Turner, born London, England, 1775, died Chelsea, England, 1851. Stormy Landscape with a Rainbow, around 1824, watercolour on paper. Purchased in memory of Alan Flacks, 1999

Stormy Landscape with a Rainbow

John Robert Cozens, born and died London, England, 1752–1797. The Lake of Albano and Castel Gandolfo, around 1778, watercolour over graphite on paper. Gift of Midland Bank Canada, 1986

The Lake of Albano and Castel Gandolfo

Richard Parkes Bonington, born Arnold, England, 1802, died London, England, 1828. Dutch Fishing Vessels near the French Coast, 1825, watercolour over graphite with scraping out on paper. Gift of W.B. Dalton, Stamford, Connecticut, and the United Kingdom, 1961

Dutch Fishing Vessels near the French Coast

Beatrix Potter, born London, England, 1866, died near Sawrey, England, 1943. Study of the head of a bat, full face, 1888, watercolour with traces of charcoal underdrawing on paper. Gift of the Trier-Fodor Foundation, 1991

Study of the head of a bat, full face

Helen Paterson Allingham, born Burton on Trent, England, 1848, died Haslemere, England, 1926. The Dairy Door, Farringford, Lord Tennyson’s Home, around 1890,
watercolour, gum arabic and scraping out on paper. Purchased in memory of Alan Flacks, 1991

The Dairy Door, Farringford, Lord Tennyson’s Home