A touring exhibition in which Kurt Jackson walks in the footsteps of JMW Turner to visit the location of his iconic images; to track down the exact viewpoint, to see for oneself how it differs or reflects the source material. JMW Turner made a series of trips to the South West during the early part of the 19th Century in search of ‘the picturesque’. His goal was to produce works that could then be reproduced and sold to the public."

Locations were chosen based on contemporary popularity as a tourist hotspot. Some were obvious (and perennial) Falmouth, Boscastle, Land’s End – some surprising to the modern eye – Devonport, Launceston. Turner was known to exhibit great artistic licence in making his work. Physical features were moved, skylines raised and lowered, in composing his images; whether for philosophical reasons or simply to make the best composition.

In this exhibition Kurt Jackson picked a dozen of these locations to discover the extent of Turner’s artistic choices. Whether a building was ignored, has since been hidden by a development or been obliterated is of interest. A river has maybe been shown to be of immense size or is now banked by concrete, denatured or is just a small stream lost under 200 years of tree growth. Harbour walls and cliffs are exaggerated; wreckage was spilled on beaches where now tourists spread their towels and sun cream. He visited each of these locations to make his own work in response to both Tuner’s approach and the contemporary lie of the land.
Jackson Foundation