Anna Thaler

In the 1830s painter Joseph Mallord William Turner produced a variety of book illustrations for contemporary English writers. A starting point for this project is the anthology Poetical Works from 1837 of the Scottish poet Thomas Campbell, for which Turner made twenty vignettes. In general within Turners illustrative work process, polychrome watercolours were translated into monochrome engravings using steel plates. This method will be defined as an interactive translation process, including different media and technical realisation as well as creative and manual approaches. How colours become lines? Furthermore I will question the state of watercolours and prints as either a unique single work or multiple reproductions and why there is a necessity of coloured models. Another focal point concerns the text/image relationship and how the artist, engraver or reader accesses the works or the books.

In his lecture drafts Turner himself uses the term ‘translation’ and connects it to the characteristic of the certain media, either colour or line. Combining language and translation with artistic practice is in England long known before Turner’s manuscripts. A historical reappraisal of the term next to the context of contemporary colour and print discourses will be part of this project. A closer look will be taken at the line as design tool in engraving to discover the inherent possibilities, functions and historical meaning. Overall the specific techniques and how they can be adapted and overcome within medial differences are a crucial objective.

Personal Data

Anna Katharina Thaler studied art history with literature and media studies at the University of Constance. She obtained her Master of Arts in 2018 in Constance with a thesis about Joseph Mallord William Turner’s graphic prints. During her studies she worked as a student assistant and in various museums within the Lake of Constance region. Since October 2018 she is a research assistant and PhD candidate of the graduate school ‘Changing Frames. Art History and Art Technology in Exchange’ of the University of Constance and the Stuttgart State Academy of Art and Design.