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Article: Visionary art.(Architect)(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- Reason
- Article date:
- February 1, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 Reason Foundation. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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THESE SPECTACLES, auctioned in the fall by Sotheby's, are said to have belonged to J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851), the British painter whose wholly original treatment of luminosity late in his career inspired the Impressionists and revolutionized art. But British eye surgeon James McGill, a student of Turner's work, believes the glasses are evidence that Turner's late style was actually a result of his deteriorating vision. Turner "was painting exactly what he saw," McGill told Britain's Guardian.
Turner's vision has been debated before, but McGill's diagnosis is a specific one: The painter suffered some color blindness, affecting his reds and blues, and saw the world ...