An Acrid Whiff

[poliphilo]

When the painter J.M.W Turner died, his executor, the great critic John Ruskin, went through the archives and made a bonfire of a lot of stuff he disapproved of- "painting after painting of Turner's of the most shameful sort - the pudenda of women - utterly inexcusable and to me inexplicable".

Or at least that's what we were told. And Ruskin's memory has been tainted with an acrid whiff of burning art-works ever since.

But now it seems as if the bonfire never happened. Ian Warrell, the Turner expert at the Tate Gallery, has been through the huge Turner collection and, checking and counter-checking, reports that there's nothing missing. Instead of burning the erotica, Ruskin sort of "lost" it in his highly complicated filing system.

And the bonfire story? Who knows? I guess Ruskin put it about to bolster his image with the Victorian public as a righteous arbiter of public taste. It's what he wanted people to believe he'd done.

I'm so glad he didn't.

He was a weird, prissy, ridiculous man. Also a genius- a visionary. One could write a play, a TV play perhaps- about good Ruskin and bad Ruskin fighting it out over Turner's porn stash.

Which leaves one final question: when are we, the British public- the ultimate owners of the Turner collection- going to be allowed to see this stuff?

Comments

[besideserato.livejournal.com]

Yeah, no kidding! Also, you should put it all online!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Turner is the greatest British artist- no question about it- and here's part of his work that has been suppressed for over 150 years.

It's as if they were holding back one of Shakespeare's plays because it was too racy.

[besideserato.livejournal.com]

That's insane! Why are they not releasing it to the public? How racy could it really be? I want to see, I want to see!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Me too.

I went to the Tate website and they have vast amounts of Turner available to view. Maybe the "pudenda" are buried in amongst all the views of the Rhine and the Lake District. If I were more intrepid I would be able to answer this question, but I'm afraid my courage failed me....

[besideserato.livejournal.com]

This needs to be corrected. The pudenda have a rightful place among the other wonders of the world!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

They should mount a special exhibition. I can see the posters now- plastered up all over London:

TURNER'S PUDENDA.

Intellectual commentary

[thewayupward.livejournal.com]

Heh heh, he said "pudenda".

Re: Intellectual commentary

[besideserato.livejournal.com]

[gigglesnort] I know, right!

Re: Intellectual commentary

[thewayupward.livejournal.com]

I think we should make a pact to use the word 'pudenda' at least once a day. Yiss?

Re: Intellectual commentary

[besideserato.livejournal.com]

You're totally on! I think my mother is home, too, I am going to go show her the cool word everyone is using these days in my generation! [Giggles] She'll die!

[morrison-maiden.livejournal.com]

I want to see it too! I've never even heard of this artist :(

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Give him a Google. He was a great landscape painter (when he wasn't sketching pudenda.) He particularly favoured sunsets and storms at sea.

[morrison-maiden.livejournal.com]

I definitely will! Lol, I'd never heard that term before (pudenda) :-X

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

It means something like "parts of shame". It's as close as an uptight Victorian bachelor could come to the naming of parts.

There's a story- probably true- that Ruskin's marriage remained unconsummated because he was traumatized to discover- on his wedding night- that his wife had pubic hair.

[morrison-maiden.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I had to look it up. I asked my father, and he told me too. He thought it was more like the exterior of the genitals.

Lol, how frightening! ;)

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

He'd grown up looking at marble statues, see- and thinking they were accurate renditions of the female form.

[ibid.livejournal.com]

I believe also he fell in love with a ten year old and was most distressed to discover his wife had a mind of her own.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

That's entirely right. His wife eventually ran off with the pre-Raphaelite painter J.E. Millais.

[thewayupward.livejournal.com]

Hee hee, you said pudenda too! Okay I'm going to stop now I swear

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Pudenda!
Pudenda!
Pudenda!

[halfmoon-mollie.livejournal.com]

He was a weird, prissy, ridiculous man. Also a genius- a visionary. One could write a play, a TV play perhaps- about good Ruskin and bad Ruskin fighting it out over Turner's porn stash.

What about you?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

It's a thought. But you've got to really love or hate an historical character to write about them. I find Ruskin interesting, but he doesn't drive me crazy .