Upcoming Release: Turner and the Slave Trade
October 3 2025
Picture: Yale University Press
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Yale University Press will be publishing a new book on Turner and the Slave Trade next month. The volume was penned by Sam Smiles of The University of Exeter.
According the book's blurb:
Drawing on extensive archival research, Turner and the Slave Trade traces the artist’s interactions with patrons tied to the plantation economy and examines the impact of abolitionist discourse on his work. Key chapters investigate The Slave Ship, its inspiration, and its contested interpretations, while situating Turner within broader debates about art, slavery and shifting public sentiment.
Offering a nuanced understanding of how art engages with history’s most urgent issues, this important new study presents Turner as an exceptional yet complex figure, whose legacy is intertwined with the institution of slavery and its eventual abolition.
