YCBA Collection Series – serie

An engaging account of Britain’s greatest painter, told through works from the Yale Center for British Art’s extensive collection Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851) is one of the most recognizable names in the history of British art. Elected to the Royal Academy in 1802, Turner broke new ground with his oils, watercolors, and prints. His landscapes and marine paintings are widely considered the crowning achievement of British Romantic art. This book, the inaugural installment in the Yale Center for British Art’s Collection Series, explores the museum’s astonishing Turner holdings—the largest outside the United Kingdom—in a manner that will engage the general reader and expert alike. Six sections of plates provide a comprehensive overview of the artist’s career, place the works within their historical and cultural context, and include new discoveries regarding the identification of locations, landscapes, and dates. Gillian Forrester’s supplementary essay offers a novel account of Turner’s innovative printmaking practice, illuminating his fraught collaborations with other printmakers. Complementing an exhibition at the YCBA and a satellite exhibition at the Dordrechts Museum (The Netherlands), both planned for the 250th year of Turner’s birth, this publication celebrates the artist’s unparalleled vision as exemplified in the YCBA’s world-class collection of his work.Published by the Yale Center for British Art/Distributed by Yale University Press Exhibition Schedule: Yale Center for British Art(March 29, 2025–July 27, 2025) Dordrechts Museum(Spring 2026)

A rich examination into the creative process of an idiosyncratic Romantic-era visionary through the lens of one of the great collections of his work  William Blake (1757–1827) is one of the most recognizable names in British art and literature. The mythological, spiritual, and pastoral themes of his visual art and poetry influenced such contemporaries as Samuel Palmer and John Linnell, and they have served as sources of inspiration for twentieth-century luminaries as well, including Allen Ginsberg, Bob Dylan, and Patti Smith. Showcasing the breadth and depth of the Yale Center for British Art’s collection of Blake’s works, this volume features exquisite reproductions of his paintings, watercolors, prints, and selections from his illustrated books, including the only hand-colored copy of the epic poem Jerusalem. It also presents newly commissioned essays that explore Blake’s biography, poetry, painting, and printmaking, as well as employing innovative digital humanities tools to highlight his unique artistic process in a manner that will engage the general reader and expert alike. Published by the Yale Center for British Art/Distributed by Yale University Press Exhibition Schedule: Yale Center for British Art(August 26–November 30, 2025)