Helen M. Turner (1858-1958)

 

 Helen m. Turner

(American,1858-1958) 

 
Girl With Lantern
Helen M. Turner (1904)
Greenville Museum of Art
Painting - oil on canvas
 
 

 
Pouline a Little Friend of Mine
Helen M. Turner (1912)
Morris Museum of Art
Painting - oil on canvas
 
 

 
Summer
Helen M. Turner (1913)
Tweed Museum of Art
Painting - oil on canvas
 
 

 
Morninr News
Helen M. Turner (1915)
Jersey City Museum
Painting - oil on canvas
 
 

 
Song of Summer
Helen M. Turner (1916)
Private collection
Painting - oil on cardboard
 
 

 
The Footbath
Helen M. Turner (1917)
Tweed Museum of Art
Painting - oil on canvas
 
 

 
The Birdcage
Helen M. Turner (1918)
Morris Museum of Art
Painting - oil on panel
 
 

 
A Long Time Ago
Helen M. Turner (1918)
Private collection
Painting - tempera on canvas
 
 

 
The Moth
Helen M. Turner (1918)
Private collection
Painting - oil on cardboard
 
 

 
On a Rainy Day
Helen M. Turner (1918)
Phillips Collection
Painting - oil on panel
 
 

 
Woman Standing in the Dutch Door
Helen M. Turner (1918)
Private collection
Painting - oil on canvas
 
 

 
Coral
Helen M. Turner (1919)
Speed Art Museum
Painting - tempera on canvas
 
 

 
Morning
Helen M. Turner (1919)
Zigler Museum
Painting - oil on canvas
 
 

 
The Old House
Helen M. Turner (1919)
Sweet Briar College
Painting - oil on canvas
 
 

 
Siesta on the Window Seat
Helen M. Turner (1919)
Private collection
Painting - tempera on canvas
 
 

 
Flower Girl
Helen M. Turner (1920)
Detroit Institute of the Arts
Painting - oil on canvas
 
 

 
Alice in Wonderland
Helen M. Turner (1923)
Hermitage Museum and Gardens
Painting - oil on canvas
 
 

 
Lilies Lanterns and Sunshine
Helen M. Turner (1923)
Chrysler Museum of Art
Painting - tempera on panel
 
 

 
The Young Mother No,1
Helen M. Turner (1923)
High Museum of Art
Painting - oil on canvas
 
 

Matilta Geddings Gray
   Helen M. Turner (1926)
Private collection
Painting - oil on canvas
 
 

 
Mrs, William Sloan
Helen M. Turner (1926)
Hermitage Museum and Gardens
Painting - oil on canvas
 
 

 
Two Woman
Helen M. Turner (1926)
Museum of Fine Arts - Houston
Painting - oil on canvas
 
 

 
Portrait of a Lady
Helen M. Turner (1938)
Private collection
Painting - oil on canvas
 

 

Helen Maria Turner, painter, designer, teacher, craftswoman, born in Louisville, Kentucky on
November 13th, 1858. Her father Mortimer Turner was a prosperous coal merchant from
Alexandrea, Louisiana, her mother, Helen Maria Davidson was the daughter of a noted New
Orleans doctor and granddaughter of John Pintard, principle founder of the New York Historical
Society, 1804 and the American Academy of Fine Arts, 1816.
Helen Turner, was raised in New Orleans and Alexandria. Initially she studied at the New
Orleans Art Union, and later at the Art Students League. After studying for four years at the
League from 1896-99 under Kenyon Cox and Douglas Volk ,she enrolled in the Women's Art
School of Cooper Union, continuing to study portraiture under Volk for a total of four years.
The need to establish financial security led Turner to enroll in the Fine Arts Department at
Teachers College, where she earned a position as temporary instructor on the basis of the
quality of work submitted. During her stay she completed a two-year course in "Normal Art
Work" and at the age of forty-four she continued with advanced classes for two additional years.
She also studied with William Merritt Chase's summer class in Italy in 1904, 05, and 11.

Turner received critical acclaim for her innovative style and beautifully rendered paintings. In
1906 Turner became an active participant and important figure in the Cragsmoor Art Colony,
located in the Shawangunk Mountains in Ulster County, New York. For thirty years, Turner
spent her summers in Cragsmoor and most of her winters in New Orleans where she maintained
a home and studio. In New Orleans, she had strong family ties and many life long friends..

She is considered by many scholars to be counted among the most important Woman Artists in
the Country. Noted collector and art authority Duncan Phillips described Turner's work best
when he wrote that Turner was "a painter of unpretentious portraits, of landscapes with gentle
girls in gardens, of the intimate hours of life in the seclusion of homes." She was a skilled
miniaturist known for aiding in the resurgence of interest in that genre during the first decade of
the twentieth century.

She was elected an associate of the National Academy of Design, 1913; Academician National
Academy of Design, 1921. She was also a member of the New York Watercolor Club; National
Association of Portrait Painters; National Arts Club; American Federation of Arts; American
Artists Professional League; Southern States Art League and others.

Turner exhibited and won numerous awards for her works including: Elling prize for landscape,
New York Woman's Art Club, 1912; Agar prize, National Association of Woman Painters and
sculptors; Shaw memorial prize, National Academy of Design, 1913; Altman prize ($500),
National Academy of Design, 1921; second prize ($400), National Art Club, 1922; gold medal
($300) National Art Club, 1927; Maynard prize, National Academy of Design, 1927; MacBeth
Gallery; Grand Central Art Galleries (of which she was a founding member)and many others.

One of the highlights of her career was her participation in what was at the time, a landmark all-
woman traveling exhibition entitled "Six American Women" with Mary Cassatt, Johanna
Hailman, Jane Peterson, Martha Walter, and Alice Schille organized by the City Museum in St.
Louis. Turner although thrilled at the time to be included stated: "…I wish you could sandwich
in a man or two…" perhaps this was indicative of her concern for the show to as widely
accepted as possible, we just do not know.

Helen Turner never married. She lived with her "devoted" sister Lettie, (a gifted craftswoman)
for her entire life. Turner's works can be found in numerous important public and private
collections across the country. Helen Maria Turner died in New Orleans on January 31st, 1958,
less than one year shy of her 100th birthday.
      951     편집 2012/08/12/창포