He is widely regarded as England’s greatest painter, but despite his extraordinary output, elements of JMW Turner’s personality have remained a mystery.
*grinds teeth* Here we go again, a pressure group claiming a famous figure who is no longer around to challenge them...
Now, a groundbreaking BBC documentary delves into Turner’s 37,000 sketches, drawings and watercolours to build an unprecedented psychological portrait, one that raises the possibility that Turner’s singular vision was shaped by childhood trauma and neurodivergence.
And the art historians putting their names and staking their reputations to this hogwash, who are they?
Among the figures helping to unlock the artist’s life story in Turner: the Secret Sketchbooks, are the actor Timothy Spall, who portrayed him in Mike Leigh’s film Mr Turner, the artists Tracey Emin and John Akomfrah, the Rolling Stones musician Ronnie Wood, the psychotherapist Orna Guralnik and the naturalist Chris Packham.
Oh.
Packham said: “As with all of the people we suspect of having had neurodivergent traits, from Alan Turing to Isaac Newton, it’s impossible to provide retrospective diagnoses, so we can only offer conjecture about that. But if Turner did have significant neurodiverse traits, I imagine they would have had quite a profound impact on his art and thinking.”
Packham, an ambassador for the National Autistic Society, pointed to Turner’s “exceptional” keenness for detail and his “hyperfocus”, a state of intense, prolonged concentration on a particular task or topic, commonly seen in conditions such as ADHD and autism.
And in great artists. But correlation is not causation.
10 comments:
Ah, Chris Packham speaking through his arse again.
This kind of stuff is obvious bollox but, as we are learning more about autism, it seems that there is a definite spectrum that includes a pretty significant proportion of people. High functioning autistics would at one time just have been passed of as being a bit strange. My future son in law is neuro divergent, or neuro spicy as he calls it. He works in robotics. There is a proper questionnaire that you can do to assess your level of neuro spiciness which, at a family get together, we once all did for a bit of fun. It was amusing as my daughter was asking questions and I was answering no and my wife kept butting in saying, yes he does that all the time. I think my level is around Tikka Masala. I also have a nephew who is more like a Madrass.
Stonyground.
Our granddaughter is 26, received no support in her Barnsley primary school ("they stuck me in the corner and left me to play with the sand") and hated her way through secondary school. She's never been able to hold down a proper job, she's a messy hoarder but will do anything to help anyone in need. She's a knowledge magnet, has a vast mental collection of facts and figures, reads voraciously and loves her emotional support animal - a black cat called Midnight. One of her great accomplishments is mental maths she's a wizz at it but that didn't suit school, who "wanted to see the working".
So, faced with 170ish year old art and written accounts, these self-appointed "experts" are going to carry out a preplanned character assassination of JMW. Garbage in, garbage out as the saying goes: they'd be better off trying to get something useful out of the money pit which is "SEN" or whatever schools are calling it this week . . .
I'm only amazed that they haven't yet cancelled Turner as racist islam/trans-phobic and far-right. It's interesting that all of these "experts" and "worthies" who purport to support inclusivity, actually by subdividing and creating everything more victims, do precisely the opposite, then complain about it, accusing everyone but themselves. Personally, I think these people are deeply insecure and selfish, using their "specialness" to elevate themselves above common, knuckle-dragging plebs who are too thick to wipe our own bums without instructions.
Tracey Emin ... (ending all interest in anything they have to say).
Indeed!
I likr the Curry Scale Of Awkwardness!
I think they are still calling it: 'Hurrah More free money'
Give them time, if this doesn't work, they'll probably try that next.
Good point!
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