The first major exhibition of J.M.W. Turner works opened at The National Art Museum of China (NAMOC) in Beijing on 23 April and closed on 28 June. This exhibition was the result of a partnership between the British Council, Tate and NAMOC.

Organisers: National Arts Museum of China / Tate Britain / Cultural and Education Section of the British Embassy
Date: 24 April – 28 June, 2009
Time: 9:00 – 17:00 (Box office closes at 16:00)
Address: National Art Museum of China, 1 Wusi Street, Dongcheng District, Beijing
Tel: +86 (0)10 84033500
Admission: RMB 20

Turner on TV!
On Sunday 14 June, a Turner feature programme was broadcasted on China Education TV-3 Art China: Giants of Western Art. The British Council supported the production crew by arranging the interviews, providing related materials and coordinating on-site shooting.

Time: 10:32, Sunday 14 June; rebroadcasted: 23:16, Saturday 20 June
Channel: CETV-3
Length: 27 minutes
Theme: Turner in China

J.M.W Turner (1775 – 1851) is considered to be one of the greatest painters Britain has ever produced. He was the leading British artist of his era, who raised the status of landscape painting to an unprecedented level. Tate will loan 112 major works, all of which are oil paintings and works on paper, to China. J. M. W. Turner: Oils and Watercolours from Tate Britain will be the first comprehensive exhibition of Turner’s works to be shown in China. The works will come predominantly from the Turner Bequest. The show will feature Snow Storm: Hannibal and his Army Crossing the Alps 1812, one of Turner’s finest achievements, and The Decline of the Carthaginian Empire. It will also include some of his most celebrated later canvases, most notably the oil, Norham Castle, Sunrise circa 1845.

The project follows closely on the heels of the J. M. W. Turner: Oils and Watercolours from Tate Britain at the Pushkin Museum, Moscow – another Tate and British Council collaboration which was named ‘the exhibition of the year’ by Russian critics and received over 100,000 visitors.

J.M.W. Turner Decline of the Carthaginian Empire (Exhibited 1817) Collection: Tate Britain

Turner from the Tate Collection is exhibiting from 24 April 2009 and will run until 28 June 2009. The exhibition is curated by Tate Britain’s Ian Warrell, working with Xu Hong, Deputy Director of the Curatorial and Research Department at NAMOC, and with the British Council managing the exhibition whilst in China.

Turner Exhibition Videos (NEW!):
Please click here to watch video 1.
Please click here to watch video 2.
Please click here to watch video 3.

Martin Davidson, Chief Executive of the British Council said: “I have just returned from China where I was thrilled to see our work flourishing. China will be an important economic partner for the UK over the coming years and cultural ties will be vital to maintaining strong links. This exhibition forms part of a wider approach to build understanding between the two countries. As the cultural relationship between China and the UK continues to strengthen, I am hugely optimistic about future partnerships in the arts and creative industries between the two countries. Cultural relations foster the trust and cooperation that contribute to a safer, more prosperous world and I am proud of the central role the British Council is playing in bringing one of the UK’s most respected artists to the Chinese people.”

Stephen Deuchar, Director of Tate Britain said: “The Turner exhibition in China is a momentous event and the outcome of several years of fruitful discussion with our colleagues at NAMOC.  We are delighted that thousands of people in China will now have the opportunity to experience the power and the subtlety of these works by one of the great masters of Western art”.

J.M.W. Turner Army Crossing the Alps (Exhibited 1812) Collection: Tate Britain

Fan Di’an, Director of NAMOC, speaks highly of the Turner exhibition coming to Beijing. He says: “J.M.W. Turner set a precedent for European modern painting with his concept and painting style. Chinese artists and the general public alike are eagerly anticipating this great opportunity to see the works from Tate Britain’s Turner collection here in Beijing. NAMOC will make every effort to contribute to the tremendous success of this exhibition, including the provision of a comprehensive public education programme and a range of academic activities in conjunction with the exhibition.”

The British Council has a strong recent history in bringing great British art to China. In the last decade it has shown: Henry Moore in 2000-01, Antony Gormley: Asian Field in 2003, and Aftershock,  an exhibition selected by Chinese curators which introduced a young generation of British artists, including Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin and Mark Wallinger, to a Chinese audience in 2006-07.   

For more information, please contact:
bj@britishcouncil.org.cn

TATE
The original Tate Gallery, at Millbank in London, opened in 1897. Its official name was the National Gallery of British Art, but it became popularly known as the Tate Gallery, after its founder Sir Henry Tate. It was built on the site of Millbank Penitentiary, demolished in 1892, and was designed to house the collection of nineteenth-century British painting and sculpture given to the nation by Sir Henry Tate, together with some British paintings transferred from the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square. At that time its responsibilities were specifically for modern British art, defined then as artists born after 1790. In 1917 the gallery was also made responsible for the national collection of international modern art and for British art going back to about 1500. Tate became wholly independent from the National Gallery in 1955. It is now one of the nineteen national museums funded by the Government through the Department of Culture, Media and Sport. Today, what was the Tate Gallery has become Tate, a family of four galleries: Tate Britain and Tate Modern in London, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. Tate continues to care, develop and provide public access to its national collections of British art and international modern and contemporary art.