Ross Sterling Turner

Background

Ross Sterling Turner was born on June 29, 1847 at Westport, N. Y. His parents, David and Eliza Jane (Cameron) Turner, moved in his boyhood to Williamsport, Pa.

Education

At Williamsport, Pa. , he attended the local academy, showing special aptitude for freehand and mechanical drawing.

In 1876 Turner went to Munich, where as an art student he was associated with Frank Duveneck, Joseph Rodefer De Camp, Julius Rolshoven, and other young Americans.

He also studied painting in Italy.

Career

He was for several years a draftsman at the Patent Office, Washington, doing work which has been deplored as too mechanical and irksome for a man with Turner's "delicate touch and freedom of brush stroke", but which in reality may have been good training toward his spontaneous watercolors and exquisite illuminations, his chief contributions to the art of his period.

He was at Venice when Whistler was there, and he gave, shortly before his death, a talk at the Whistler House, Lowell, Massachussets, on his recollections of Whistler. Turner settled in 1882 in Boston.

Turner soon became one of the most popular teachers of watercolor in New England, instructing literally thousands of young people at his Boston studio, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1884 - 1914), and for a time at the Massachusetts Normal Art School.

Among his publications the most important is a manual, On the Use of Water Colors for Beginners (1886). He made many illustrations, and he exhibited frequently at the American Water Color Society, New York.

He was a pioneer in the movement for decoration of school rooms. Commuting for many years between Salem and Boston, with a summer studio at Wilton, N. H. , Turner had an uneventful though busy and useful career. His chief recreation was outdoor painting in watercolor, in which he was facile and proficient.

In his later life he discovered the charm of the Bahamas as a sketching ground, and there, at Nassau, he died in 1915.

He had previously developed a form of art of which he was one of the few modern exponents, that of the illuminated manuscript, where he used the materials and followed the manner of the medieval craftsmen. His illuminations were exhibited from time to time at the Society of Arts and Crafts, Boston.

Achievements

• Ross Sterling Turner was recognized as a superior watercolorists and painter, particularly in the areas of landscape and figure painting. A devotee of American painter Frank Duveneck, he developed a thick, painterly, realist style. He also developed a love for painting outdoors using watercolor. Turner was the author of several art books, including "On the Use of Water Colors for beginners and Art for the Eye. "

Works

More photos

• book

  • Buyartforless A Garden is A Sea of Flowers by Ross Sterling Turner 24x32 Art Print Poster Floral Landscape Famous Painting

    (A garden is a sea of flowers by Ross sterling Turner 24x3...)

  • Art for the Eye. Suggestions for School Decoration

    (Leopold is delighted to publish this classic book as part...)

  • On the Use Of Water Colors For Beginners

Membership

He was a charter member of the Guild of Boston Artists (formed in 1913), which in March 1915 held a memorial exhibition of his works.

Turner was a member of the Boston Art Club, the Boston Watercolor Club, the American Watercolor Society and the Copley Society, among others.

Though he spent time in Boston, New Hampshire and the Bahamas, Turner was an active member for many years in Salem organizations, including The Salem Club.

Personality

He was modest, friendly, and possessed of a wide range of interests.

According to a friend, he was a "charming companion, simple as a child with the broader wisdom that declines to see evil".

Interests

• He was also an accomplished musician, playing cello at church and at the Salem Club.

Connections

In 1884 he married Louise Blaney, sister of Dwight Blaney, a fellow artist. They made their home at Salem.

They had two sons.

Father:

David Turner

Mother:

Eliza Jane (Cameron) Turner

Spouse:

Louise Blaney

References

• Living New England Artists: Biographical Sketches, Reproductions Of Original Drawings And Paintings By Each Artist...