International News

NEW YORK, (APP/AFP): Four paintings by JMW Turner depicting
18th and 19th century commercial whaling and their possible link to “Moby Dick” are the focus of an exhibit opening Tuesday at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.
“Turner’s Whaling Pictures” features works done in the 1840s as the
Briton Turner was near the end of his career and life.
This is the first time all four have been shown together, with one
owned by the Met and three on loan from London, said curator Alison Hokanson.
Seascapes were a favorite of Turner, and in this case he addressed the legendary era of commercial whaling, in which sailing ships would spend years at sea, sometimes in remote places like the South Pacific, hunting down those mighty creatures to extract oil used in lamps.
“It was one of the last of Turner’s painting campaigns, a new subject,” Hokanson said Monday as she presented the 1.2 meter by 90 cm (4 ft X 3 ft) paintings to the media. They will be on display through August 7.
Two of the paintings depict the hunt itself, in which whalers in small boats hurled harpoons at the whale from a short distance.
The other two address the carving up of whales to obtain oil, which was the industry’s lifeblood.