Film Screening
Mr. Turner, directed by Mike Leigh (2014; 150 min.)

Mr. Turner explores the last quarter century of the life of J. M. W. Turner (1775–1851), the single-minded landscape painter whom John Ruskin (who is portrayed in the film) described as the “father of modern art.” With Turner’s loose brushwork and vibrant colors, and his depictions of the modern world, he often shocked his contemporaries. In the words of Mike Leigh, Mr. Turner examines “the tension between this very mortal, flawed individual, and the epic work, the spiritual way he had of distilling the world.” Introduced by Phillip Lopate, film critic, author, and Professor of Writing, Columbia University.

Co-organized by NYU’s New York Institute for the Humanities and Grey Art Gallery.