Tsunami

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Tsunami was suggested to me by Mike Leigh's Mr. Turner and his cinematic account of Turner having himself tied to a ship's mast in order to feel what a storm at sea actually feels like in order to really paint it. It is also a reminder of my own summer of 1950 working on an oil tanker off the Pacific coast and a treasured evocation of a few of my own pitching and yawing storms.

A tsunami is rolling in from a mysterious seismic event. Riding out the great wave is a grand three masted schooner. On the deck an intent painter is at work. The name on the boat tells us it is JMW Turner, and his paintings confirm it. Foundering in the tumultuous white water of a storm surge is a small disintegrating sailboat with six boaters caught on a nautical spree. One man is clearly facing a losing battle.

In the sails of the small boat is a beckoning, flag waving man. If the painter is Turner, then this must be his most devoted admirer, the critic, John Ruskin, cheering him on as only this man of letters could do, By now it is clear that the boaters must be some Turner colleagues from The Royal Academy in London. Manning the boat's tiller is a young man who was later Turner's most notable competition, John Constable. At his feet is inscribed the name, Effie Gray, a reference to the pre-Raphaelite, once RA president, John Everett Millais. In turn, this boat's name brings us back to Ruskin whose beautiful Effie was later absconded from Ruskin by Millais. But that's another story.

Here Turner is the fierce hero with his flying dutchman of an imagined schooner riding out the savagery of nature and the vicissitudes of Art. Today, it now appears that it was Turner himself who had become the tsunami.

The edition of 70 prints is divided between a small version (19 x 30 inches) numbered 1-35/70 and a larger version (23 x 37 inches) numbered 36-70/70. Contact a dealer for additional information.

Edition of 70. Archival digital print. Divided between two sizes.
SMALL: 19 x 30" on 24 x 36" paper.
LARGE: 23 x 37" on 31 x 45" paper
LED light box display:  29" x 45".  Edition: 10 displays. 3 Artist Proofs

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ART IN PRINT - THE OCULAR VISION AND AESTHETIC VISIONS OF PETER MILTON

Vision is an inherent component of visual art, and a tool for artists as much as pigment, engraving implements or canvas. It serves to recognize a subject, create work with detail or color, refine work in progress and judge a finished product. And much has been written about artists with poor vision, or about aberrations in art that might be interpreted to indicate an eye disease.

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American artist Peter Milton (b. 1930) has congenital color deficiency (“color blindness”) as well as a number of other visual problems (myopia, strabismus, cataracts) that have been correctable. This article is a collaborative effort that grew out of discussions between Milton and a visual scientist (Marmor) who has studied the role of vision and eye disease in art. Milton recognizes that eyesight, i.e., physical “ocular vision,” has been a factor in his printmaking and has played a distinctive role in how he has conceptualized and approached his work throughout a long career. We describe the medical facts of Milton’s visual status, while letting the artist speak for himself about his purpose and style.

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EVERGREEN MUSEUM & LIBRARY JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY

Peter Milton is an internationally respected titan of etching who has enjoyed a long and fruitful career in printmaking. His large-scale, multilayered images defy visual logic while telling fantastic stories about life, loss, music, and art.

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“I suppose what I am really working toward is a four-dimensional articulation — where images juggle with the time continuum as part of the enigma.”

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Milton continued his studies at Yale and in 1961 received his MFA. From 1961-1968 Milton lived in Baltimore where he taught at the Maryland Institute College of Art. It was during this period when Peter Milton took an avid interest in printmaking. Over the course of fifty years, Milton has created intricate visual worlds in more than 130 prints, many of which took well over a year to make.

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