{"id":2788,"date":"2022-02-14T12:35:59","date_gmt":"2022-02-14T12:35:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/britishartnetwork.org.uk\/?post_type=britartuncanon&p=2788"},"modified":"2022-02-14T14:00:30","modified_gmt":"2022-02-14T14:00:30","slug":"turner-on-the-20","status":"publish","type":"britartuncanon","link":"https:\/\/britishartnetwork.org.uk\/britishartuncanon\/turner-on-the-20\/","title":{"rendered":"Turner on the 20"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

‘As a protest record, surprisingly enough, More Arriving falls short of its high standards due to bland generalisations, such as “which racist do you want on your bank note?” And not least because the English painter J.M.W. Turner \u2013 the new face of the 20 pound note \u2013 campaigned for the abolition of slavery<\/em>.’<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

[other voices, with a note of irony] “guys – he\u2019s got a point, he\u2019s got a point, hasn\u2019t he? Oh man!<\/em>‘<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

                From Sarathy Korwar (feat. Zia Ahmed), \u2018Turner on the 20\u2019 (2020)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

J.M.W. Turner\u2019s self-portrait, painted in 1799 \u2013 the year he was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy of Arts and as his artistic reputation rocketed \u2013 has long been treated as iconic. <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Taken as a bold encapsulation of the young artist\u2019s self-confidence and an emblem of a new kind of \u2018Romantic\u2019 artistic identity, it has been used as an illustration countless time. In February 2020 it was used, yet again, in a way which ensured that you’re likely to have had it in your pocket at some point. From that date it featured in the design of the new \u00a320 note, the Bank of England\u2019s then-Governor, Mark Carney, asserting: \u2018Our banknotes celebrate the UK\u2019s extraordinarily rich and diverse heritage and highlight the contributions of its greatest citizens. Turner\u2019s art was transformative\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"image
Image: Bank of England<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The new banknote design and Turner\u2019s name surfaced unexpectedly in an online review of the 2019 album More Arriving <\/em>by Sarathy Korwar, in words which were quoted in the track produced in response by Korwar with the poet Zia Ahmed: \u2018Turner on the 20\u2019 (available to download with profits going to charity, and see here<\/a>). Korwar identifies the track as \u2018challenging the notion that because Turner has been officially celebrated, we should no longer be calling out the racism that the economy of Britain has historically been built on\u2019 (see here<\/a>). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ahmed’s words punctuate the track ironically with post-racial platitudes (\u2018I don\u2019t see race \/ I just see mates\u2019) and well-worn claims to English exceptionalism (\u2018land of the liberals \u2026 land of the moderates\u2019). Underpinned by the itinerant imaginary of Korwar\u2019s musical aesthetic (which is \u2018predominantly based in  jazz and Indian classical music but also incorporates elements of hip-hop, electronic music and more<\/a>\u2019) and the performers’ personal histories (Ahmed a Londoner; Korwar identifies as \u2018US-born, Indian-raised, London-based<\/a>\u2019) the track confronts the wish to identify British heroes and, as they put it, ‘Forget the darker days \/ just dance the past away’. The track concludes with words that wryly allude to the presence of the image of Sir Winston Churchill \u2013 a political figure whose documented racism has proved especially contentious \u2013 on the \u00a35 note: \u2018Churchill on the fiver \/ Don\u2019t let it trouble you \/ Cos\u2019 now we\u2019ve got J.M.W.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But does that claim that Turner \u2018campaigned for abolition of slavery\u2019 hold? As the art historian and Turner specialist Sam Smiles noted in the catalogue of the Tate exhibition ‘Turner\u2019s Modern World’ (2020), the painter expressed \u2018humanitarian sympathies\u2019 in a coded way in several images, and \u2018From at least the 1820s [his] position on slavery appears to have shared common ground with the majority of public opinion\u2019. Whether that qualifies him as an active \u2018campaigner\u2019 is moot, and we now know he benefited financially from the institution of plantation slavery, not least by having patrons involved in the slave economy. Perhaps what ‘Turner on the 20’ demonstrates, above all, is that seeking out ‘good guys\u2019 who can unambiguously validate a liberal and progressive vision of British art history can result in distortions or exaggerations of the historical record, albeit more subtle than those which arise when people insist upon the irrelevance of empire\u2019s histories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Martin Myrone<\/p>\n\n\n\n

February 2022<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":2789,"template":"","artistormaker":[222],"period":[155,156],"medium":[164],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTurner on the 20 - British Art Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/britishartnetwork.org.uk\/britishartuncanon\/turner-on-the-20\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Turner on the 20 - British Art Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"‘As a protest record, surprisingly enough, More Arriving falls short of its high standards due to bland generalisations, such as “which racist do you want on your bank note?” And […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/britishartnetwork.org.uk\/britishartuncanon\/turner-on-the-20\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"British Art Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-02-14T14:00:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/britishartnetwork.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Turner.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"602\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"782\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/britishartnetwork.org.uk\/britishartuncanon\/turner-on-the-20\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/britishartnetwork.org.uk\/britishartuncanon\/turner-on-the-20\/\",\"name\":\"Turner on the 20 - British Art Network\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/britishartnetwork.org.uk\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/britishartnetwork.org.uk\/britishartuncanon\/turner-on-the-20\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/britishartnetwork.org.uk\/britishartuncanon\/turner-on-the-20\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/britishartnetwork.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Turner.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-02-14T12:35:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-02-14T14:00:30+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/britishartnetwork.org.uk\/britishartuncanon\/turner-on-the-20\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/britishartnetwork.org.uk\/britishartuncanon\/turner-on-the-20\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/britishartnetwork.org.uk\/britishartuncanon\/turner-on-the-20\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/britishartnetwork.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Turner.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/britishartnetwork.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Turner.jpg\",\"width\":602,\"height\":782,\"caption\":\"JMW Turner, Self-portrait, 1799. 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