A native-born artist from Gallup, New Mexico, Ben Turner is noted for his paintings of Southwest landscapes, especially "lushly colorful landscapes featuring all the hallmarks of the autumn cottonwoods/aspens school of New Mexico painting." (Clemmer, 98) Many of his landscapes have adobe structures. A descendant of famous English painter, Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851), Ben Turner established studios in Taos and Santa Fe, New Mexico; Redstone, Colorado; and Matzalan, Mexico.

His interest in art developed in high school, and following graduation, he attended the University of New Mexico and the Art Institute of Chicago. He then worked as a cartoonist, creating a series called "Jerry and Jake", which was syndicated throughout the Southwest to nearly 50 newspapers. He spent much time in Taos where he painted with and learned technique from Eanger Couse, Ernest Blumenschein, Victor Higgins and Joseph Henry Sharp.

During World War II, he served with the Army Air Corps, and founded the 15th Air Force Staff Artists. He created posters and portraits of Army personnel and also painted battle scenes from on-site drawings that he made in Bari, Italy and the Ploesti Fields of Romania. His work from this period was published in magazines including Look and Life.


Sources include:
David Clemmer, Serenading the Light: Painters of the Desert Southwest, p. 98
http://www.adobegallery.com/artist.php?artist_id=208

Born in 1912 in Gallup, New Mexico, Ben Turner was one of few native New Mexico artists to become a prominent commercial success in the first half of the twentieth century. He also was a direct descendent of Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775 - 1851), the famous English marine painter.

Ben showed a great deal of interest in art as a young child and enrolled at the University of New Mexico and then the Chicago Art Institute upon graduation from high school. He created a daily comic strip named "Jerry n Jake" that ran in over 48 newspapers around the Southwest. After his formal studies, Turner headed to Taos where he met and studied with Eanger Couse, Ernest Blumenschein, Victor Higgins and Joseph Henry Sharp.

During World War II, Turner was a staff artist and established the 15th Air Force Staff Artists. He painted drawings on site of the battlefields in Bari, Italy and the Ploeti Fields of Romania. These drawings were published in several magazines including Look and Life.

He established studios in Santa Fe and Taos, New Mexico, in Redstone, Colorado and in Mazatlan, Mexico, where he died February 3, 1966. Throughout most of his life he practiced a style of reacting spontaneously to his subject without preliminary drawing. Heavy brush stokes and thick paint gave life to the popularity of his adobe buildings, aspens, cottonwoods, and mountain scenes as well as floral still life arrangements.

His work was exhibited in the Fine Art Gallery at the University of New Mexico and is in the permanent collections of the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. and the Museum of Fine Art in Santa Fe.

Bibliography
1. Serenading the Light: Painters of the Desert Southwest, by David Clemmer
2. American Art Review August 2006 Painters of the Desert Southwest by James Burns
3. Museum of Fine Art, Santa Fe

Born in New Mexico, Robert Turner (1912-1966) was a descendant of the English Romantic painter Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851). He attended the University of New Mexico and Chicago Art Institute. Turner began his career as a cartoonist, with the creation of a comic strip named "Jerry 'n Jake," syndicated in over 48 newspapers in the Southwest. He refined his fine art practice in Taos, painting alongside Eanger Irving Couse, Ernest Blumenschein, Victor Higgins and Joseph Henry Sharp.

During World War II, Turner worked as an artist during his service and established a staff of artists for the 15th Army Air Corps. Their work included poster art, portraiture, and likely the popular aircraft nose art as well. Turner himself spent much time sketching battle scenes, some of which he later rendered in paint. His depictions of battle scenes were featured in Look and Life magazines at the time. Turner's return to New Mexico marked a period of great success for his landscape paintings. Eventually he would establish studios in Santa Fe and Taos, New Mexico, in Redstone, Colorado and in Mazatlan, Mexico.

Ben Turner's paintings are held in a number of important permanent collections including the Library of Congress, the Museum of New Mexico, and the Museum of the Southwest in Midland, Texas. In 2004, Turner's work was featured in a traveling exhibition organized by the Hearst Art Gallery, titled Serenading the Light: Painters of the Desert Southwest.

Ref: David Clemmer, Serenading the Light: Painters of the Desert Southwest (2003).