John Martin is an interesting painter. Although famous in his lifetime, in the 20th century he was much derided by artists and art critics, but has remained popular with the public (he was/is the most looked-at painter in the Tate), perhaps because his paintings have sometimes come to look like colossal 19th century heavy metal album covers. In the 1930s you could have picked up one of his huge masterpieces for a couple of pounds. In recent years his work has undergone critical reappraisal, and there's currently an exhibition at the Tate - have a look here.
His brother Jonathan was an insane preacher who set fire to York Minster:
"...his paintings have sometimes come to look like colossal 19th century heavy metal album covers"
ReplyDeleteHah! That's a great description. Brilliant.
I find his viewpoints a little too static and distanced. With Turner I find it easy to become engulfed in the swirly romanticized mist. With John Martin I just feel like a passive onlooker to these rapturous events...
When I see Martin's work I also think of one word sublime, the same with Turner and Casper David Friedrich (Anyone looking at the work of James Guerney should do so in reference to Friedrich and James McNeil Whistler. In regards to the Heavy Metal album covers I am fairly sure that Martin was their dominant influence.
ReplyDeleteLooking at the way Martin's works have risen and fallen in popularity over the years, we can probably place it into both Addison/ Ashley-Cooper/ Dennis definition of sublime as well as the Edmund Burke opinion.