Thomas Girtin: The Forgotten Painter

by Oscar Zárate

Award-winning writer and illustrator Oscar Zárate’s full-color graphic novel reveals the untold story of English Romantic painter J. M. W. Turner’s friend and greatest rival, pioneering watercolor artist Thomas Girtin.

Part historical narrative, part modern fiction, this book consists of two interlinked The first focuses on the 18th-century painter Thomas Girtin and his relationship with his friend and rival J.M.W. Turner. The second tells the tale of three amateur artists in the present day, united by a shared interest in Girtin’s art.

Using this dual narrative to draw parallels between two eras of rapid technological advancement and sociopolitical turbulence, Oscar Zárate’s Thomas The Forgotten Painter restores to modern eyes this unjustly forgotten figure, whose work has been almost entirely ignored despite his huge influence in British painting. At the time of death, aged just 27, Girtin had already established himself as a pioneer and a master—his expressionist approach was a significant turning point in the British watercolor tradition. But the brevity of his career, coupled with his chosen medium (compared to oils, watercolors were a humbler and less easily exhibited form) meant that his work came to be overshadowed by that of Turner. As Turner himself famously remarked, “If Tom had lived, I should have starved.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Art

384 pages, Hardcover

Published June 20, 2023

About the author

Oscar Zárate (born 1942) is an Argentine comic book artist and illustrator. Zarate studied architecture and had a successful career in advertising in Argentina. He moved to Europe in 1971 and began to work in earnest as an illustrator. He has drawn for the UK comics magazine Crisis. In the Introducing... and ...For Beginners book series he illustrated texts written by Richard Appignanesi, Alexei Sayle, Dylan Evans, J P McEvoy, Angus Gellatly and Rupert Woodfin. He is perhaps best known in the United States as the artist for the graphic novel A Small Killing written by Alan Moore, the a full length story about a once idealistic advertising executive haunted by his boyhood self.

Reviews

[Drew Canole]

From the guy who did Alan Moore's A Small Killing - which I haven't read although it's been on my list for over 10 years at this point! It's definitely getting shoved to the front of the line now.

Big thanks to Dave for putting this on my radar. There's not too many times I've finished reading a review and opened up a new tab to place an order that second.

Part biography of J. M. W. Turner's rival watercolorist Thomas Girtin but mostly it's a present-day story of 3 adults who meet at a weekly painting class. Through the story they meet up weekly for drinks and one of the characters brings up Girtin. At first I wanted the book to focus more on Girtin, but by the end I was probably more interested in the lives of the 3 fictional characters.

There's a few prints of Girtin's work shown in the comic, when the characters are viewing his artwork online and in person. It's a really cool way of incorporating the subject's work. More biographical comics need to do this sort of thing.

I hope I can see a Girtin piece in person someday!

Here's one of the pieces shown early on in the comic that gets the characters really interested in the artist.

https://www.thomasgirtin.com/collecti...

[Mendousse]

Encore un cadeau de Sébastien qui tombe juste !
Très beau roman graphique de Oscar Zarate, qui mêle la vie de 3 artistes amateurs à une biographie d'un aquarelliste contemporain et rival de Turner, mais qui est malheureusement décédé à l'âge de 27 ans.
C'est beau, c'est intelligent, c'est subtil et sensible.
Une réussite !
Plusieurs styles graphiques coexistent mais bien entendu l'aquarelle a le rôle central dans le dessin.
Et plusieurs planches sont absolument magnifiques, notamment les réinterprétations sur des pages dépliables de Girtin.
Belle lecture.

[Dylan]

A parallel tale of 21st century friends attending art classes, and the forgotten history of Thomas Girtin, friend and contemporary of Turner, and who shared Turner’s turbulence and obsession with natural forces.

Some great moments. Girtin’s desire to travel to Northern England, wanting to “see where the clouds are born, and where they die”. Lovely little London in-jokes; one frame captures the open and busy entrance to Mornington Crescent tube station. Those strange days at the very beginning of the Covid pandemic; news reports from Europe making it seem like something that was only “over there”.

Beautifully drawn, exquisitely told. History, art, love and disappointment. It’s all in the brushstrokes.

[Dave Schaafsma]

My first masterpiece graphic novel of 2024, Thomas Girtin: A Forgotten Painter (2023) by Oscar Zarate, a 384 page tome, couches a biography of a contemporary of British watercolorist, J. M. W. Turner within the story of three aging painter friends who discover the work of Girtin and (perhaps in part because of their discovery) decide to make amends to their lives. A gorgeous artifact about jealousy, regrets, man’s destruction of the environment, but also art, friendship and redemption.

The three friends are taking a life drawing painting class together. They have been friends for a long time; they are good artists, not painting professionally but still passionately, and they know and love art history. Sarah is religious; she has a regret about her jealousy of a good friend who became a successful painter early on when she did not, who now wants to reconnect with her; Arturo is a cynic, an atheist, but he has a regret, too, having many years ago left a woman and her daughter in a time of complex political circumstances--should he try to reconnect? And Fred has discovered Girtin and wants to share his discovery with his friends.

Fred relates Girtin’s biography to them and us, sometimes showing us the actual work as the three of them comment insightfully about its significance. Did I know Girtin? I couldn’t recall. But I had been through the Tate Modern Turner collection. As Fred (and of course Zarate) sees it, Girtin, a contemporary, friend and rival of the famous Turner, was a genius, a visionary, though he died at 27. As Turner reportedly said, “Had Thomas lived, I would have starved.” Hyperbolic, but it was nevertheless a tribute to his rival, whom he admired, and of whom he was jealous, too.

Zarate’s work is moving on all accounts, as admirer of the role of art in shaping and sustaining human perception. I love Girtin’s visit to the north, I like it that he is politically compromised (not a saint). We learn a few things about him but it is clear that Zarate thinks the key things Girtin has to contribute to the world is through his art. As with Turner, he taps into a way of seeing and experiencing the world. They show you nature/the environment, something that will never be the same again. Maybe in the end it's less about art per se than the importance of aspiration, about finding purpose, and redemption, in life, through any means. Hopeful in a grim time.

Greg Smith says in an afterword that he feels an affinity for Fred, who has decided to write a biography of Girtin, worried that it will take over his life. Smith confirms that it will, as he has himself taken a quarter of a century compiling an online catalog of his works. Zarate himself has taken the better part of a decade on this project. Amazing, important, probably in my estimation one of the great graphic works ever.

Here is a link to Smith's website, and I can’t wait to get into it:


https://www.thomasgirtin.com/

[Mark]

This is a hefty tome and dense & fascinating read to say the least, revealing and revelling in Thomas Girtin's life and work at the end of the 18th century. A watercolour rendering (mainly) of a master watercolourist, who died too young (aged 27, in 1802).
I have to say I'm still not 100% sure what Fred's job was, that he got sacked from, yet had all that incriminating evidence of financial malfeasance on a USB (that he didn't copy).
I was gripped, throughout, but I think it could have just as easily finished on page 347 with Arturo's musings about Girtin's likely reaction to our built upon, concrete & glass covered nation: "I see what you're saying in your work... You're saying - "Look at what I'm painting, because what I'm painting is going to perish - before your eyes..."
"The landscapes today that will not be there tomorrow..."
That's what your paintings are all about. They're about...
Disappearing."

I'm not sure that I'd say this is Oscar Zárate's best work, but it's definitely up there.

[Bob]

This sumptuous graphic novel tells the story of three modern-day art students who deal with personal crises while learning about the great 18th century painter Thomas Girtin. The story jumps back and forth, from watercolor contemporary times to the sepia past. The cinematic presentation is beautiful and flows well. Girtin remains a bit of an enigma, and I found the narrative connection between the modern-day problems and the Girtin history to be a bit loose.

[Earl Pestano]

Beautiful! If I could summarise it, The three friends approach art as a kind of escape, but later… their fascination with Girtin gradually becomes a way of understanding their own lives and choices.

Art is a Universal Language. Art transcends time.

[Victor]

A serious masterpiece of the form.

[Aurora]

Made it 123 pages in before giving up. The prospect of reading the rest was not enticing.

[Emilie]

L’histoire m’a plu ; les dessins moins. Ce qui est dommage quand on lit une BD qui parle d’aquarelle… on aspire à admirer de belles aquarelles.

[Tony]

A great fictionalised discovery of Tom Girtin a contemporary of Turner. Zarate has created a graphic novel of great substance here and his three fictional characters are incredibly well realised.

[Sandy Spaenhoven]

Wat een klepper van een graphic novel... letterlijk en figuurlijk! In één van de mooie 'bookshops' van Bath (UK), trok de prachtig gestileerde cover met als titel 'Thomas Girtin: The Forgotten Painter' mijn aandacht, niet wetende dat het boek pas 5 dagen later, op 8 juni 2023, officieel in de boekhandel mocht verschijnen. Bovendien was ik me er evenmin van bewust dat Thomas Girtin écht had bestaan. Nooit eerder had ik van deze schilder gehoord, en indien de achterflap niet had prijsgegeven dat het om een vriend, rivaal en tijdgenoot van William Turner ging, zou ik het verhaal louter als fictie hebben aanschouwd.

De tekenstijl binnenin zag er eveneens prachtig uit. Ik kon niet stoppen met het doorbladeren van het boek: van voor naar achter en van achter naar voor. En opnieuw. Ik ontdekte zelfs een dubbele pagina die helemaal kon worden uitgevouwen tot één grote spread (tijdens het lezen zelf ontdekte ik er trouwens nóg twee). 392 bladzijden vol fraaie tekeningen ontvouwden zich als een kunstwerkje voor me. Geen twijfel mogelijk, deze graphic novel moest mee het Kanaal over!

Dinsdag 11 juli 2023. Terwijl de festiviteiten van de Vlaamse Feestdag volledig aan me voorbij gaan (toch bedankt aan mijn werkgever voor de extra dag congé), nestel ik me op een ligstoel in de tuin, in de schaduw van de beuk. Helemaal klaar om dit kunstige boek tot in zijn diepste vezel te ontrafelen.

Nee, dit is niet louter een biografie van een weinig bekende kunstenaar. Hoewel we heel wat leren over Thomas Girtin - de 'vergeten schilder' - en zijn blik op de natuur (en wolken in het bijzonder), gaat de essentie van het verhaal evenzeer over de invloed van kunst op het dagelijks leven van mensen. En over hoe krachtig het medium kunst kan zijn om niet alleen verbinding tussen mensen te creëren, maar ook om tot persoonlijke inzichten te komen waardoor je, met meer zelfvertrouwen, belangrijke keuzes in het leven durft te maken.

De verwevenheid van non-fictie met fictie en van geschiedenis met actualiteit, zorgt voor een tijdloos verhaal waar elk van ons zich misschien wel in één van de drie fictionele hoofdpersonages kan herkennen, of - wie weet - in Thomas Girtin zelf. Prachtig vormgegeven en gebruik makend van kleurtinten die zowel de emoties in het verhaal als de tijdsgeest ondersteunen, is dit een graphic novel om te koesteren. Dikke duim voor Oscar Zarate!

Beoordeling: 4,5/5.

[Nate]

I was interested in this book because I like Zarate’s art, and because of the Salieri/Mozart relationship between two artists hinted at in the description. But this didn’t do anything for me at all. It’s about British watercolorist Thomas Girtin, yes, but it’s equally about the uninteresting problems of three contemporary Londoners taking a painting class together, discussing Girtin and their own lives. Maybe if I was more into art history I would like this, but there was basically nothing in the story that moved me. Zarate obviously uses the contemporary characters to espouse his political and philosophical beliefs, and to tell the audience what Girtin’s art means (there are several passages of the characters literally providing art criticism). The rivalry/friendship between Girtin and Turner is not explored at great length either. The problem, I think, is that not much is known about Girtin’s short life, so Zarate had to add all this extra stuff to pad out a nearly 400-page book. I know this was a passion project for Zarate, and good for him for making it happen, but I’m just not the right audience.