New exhibition announced at Worcester City Art Gallery & Museum
4th May – 6th July 2019

• See Turner’s first sketchbook
• Turner’s oil painting A View of the High Street, Oxford, 1809-10, is centrepiece of the exhibition
• Includes JMW Turner’s first commissions

Hot on the heels of the record-breaking Matisse exhibition at Worcester Art Gallery & Museum, the Gallery are showing the work of another internationally renowned artist this spring. The Young Turner: Ambitions in Architecture and the Art of Perspective presents some of JMW Turner’s first commissions including drawings, painting and engravings. The exhibition runs from 4 May until 6 July and entry is free.

This touring exhibition from the Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford focuses on Turner’s work from the 1780s to the 1810s, mostly featuring Oxford and the Midlands. The works illustrate his interest in Gothic architecture, his increasing expertise in depicting it and his growing knowledge of perspective.

Image © Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford. JMW Turner – View of High Street, Oxford (1810) WA2016.48.

Turner’s oil painting A View of the High Street, Oxford, 1809-10, is the stunning centrepiece of the exhibition. Also on show will be Turner’s rarely exhibited first sketchbook and some of his diagrams for the lectures in perspective he gave at the Royal Academy.

The works on display are drawn primarily from collections in the Ashmolean Museum, and are complemented by loans from the Tate and several private collections.

Families visiting the exhibition can enjoy a trail around the exhibition and borrow an activity bag which equips children to have a go at drawing and sketching – Turner took a sketchbook with him wherever he went, completing over 30,000 artworks.

There’s also a family drop in activity day on Tuesday 28 May 11am – 3pm where children can create their own Turner –inspired street scene or landscape from collage materials.

The Young Turner: Ambitions in Architecture and the Art of Perspective is free and open Monday – Saturday 10.30am – 4.30pm.