R. LeRoy Turner

American, 1905 - 1957


R. Leroy Turner is recognized for his vibrant Modern abstractions completed from the late 1920s through the early 1950s. His artwork emphasizes a lyrical form of Cubism, often inspired by visual interpretations of classical music. Many of his compositions are titled after specific pieces of music, and frequently they include themes of melodic symbols, devices and musical scores.

Born in Sherwood, ND in 1905, Turner spent much of his childhood living in Minnesota. In Minneapolis, LeRoy Turner studied painting at the University of Minnesota with the noted artists and instructors, Cameron Booth and Edmund Kinzinger. Towards the late 1920s, Turner became highly influenced by the paintings styles of Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Juan Gris, and Paul Klee. In 1928 he traveled to Europe to further his art studies in Munich and Paris. While painting in Europe he continued his association with both instructors Booth and Kinzinger. Returning to the United States, Turner joined the faculty of the St. Paul School of Art in St Paul, MN, where he became a painting instructor from 1933 to 1936. In 1935, to favored reviews, Turner exhibited his abstract paintings at a one-man show at the Nash-Conley Galleries in Minneapolis.

In 1936, Turner and fellow artist Alexander Corazzo joined the prestigious European avant-garde painting group, Abstraction-Création. Founded in Paris in 1931 to counteract the rise of Surrealism, this influential organization of painters and sculptors, which included Piet Mondrian, Jean Arp and Albert Gleizes, among others, aimed to promote the concepts of Modern geometric, non-figurative abstract painting. The group emphasized a synthesis of formal line, color and purity, incorporating the concepts of non-objective painting, Cubism and abstraction. Turner and Corazzo were two of a very select number of American artists accepted into the group, which also included Alexander Calder and Carl Holty. Turner exhibited with Abstraction-Création, which included two paintings in 1936, showing under the single name “Leroy”.

Leroy Turner suffered from chronic poor health through much of his adult life. While many of his American colleagues from Abstraction-Création, such as Calder, Holty and Corazzo, continued to exhibit and travel extensively, Turner returned to Minneapolis to become a full-time art instructor and administrator. From 1936-1948 Tuner became a respected teacher of painting at the University of Minnesota. During the Second World War, from 1940-1942, he served as the Assistant Director at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. Later in his life he became a painting and sculpture instructor at the Stillwater Art Colony in Minnesota from 1938-1950. Turner died in 1957 in Stillwater, MN at the age of 52.

  • Untitled (The Musician), ca. 1950
    Oil on Masonite
    36 x 23 1/4 inches

    Signed LeRoy Turner lower right

    #18088
  • Two Canaries Eyeing a Bug (Birds of May Series), 1954
    Oil on canvas, in original frame
    48 x 28 1/2 inches

    Signed with initials and dated LT 54 lower left;
    Signed, titled and dated on reverse

    #10085
  • Bird Dance, ca. 1935
    Oil on canvas
    45 x 24 1/2 inches
    #10075
  • Night Forms, 1956
    Oil on canvas, in original frame
    40 x 30 inches

    Signed and dated LeRoy Turner 10-1956, on reverse;
    Titled on label on reverse

    #10087
  • Untitled (Abstraction)
    ca. 1950s
    30 x 40 inches
    #10079
  • Painting #20, ca. 1939
    Casein on Masonite
    24 x 36 inches

    Signed LeRoy Turner, lower right; Signed and titled on reverse

    #6274
  • Untitled (Abstraction), ca. 1950s
    Oil on Masonite
    29 1/2 x 23 inches
    #10081
  • Untitled (Abstraction), ca. 1950
    Oil on board
    16 x 10 1/2 inches
    #10878
  • Elopement, 1950
    Oil on board
    26 x 12 inches

    Titled and dated on reverse.

    #10877
  • AB - 69, ca. 1935
    Gouache, watercolor and graphite on paper
    14 x 20 inches

    Signed Turner, lower right; signed and titled on margin lower left.

    #4338
  • AB - 71, ca. 1935
    Gouache and graphite on paper
    16 x 24 inches

    Signed Turner, lower right; signed and titled on margin lower left.

    #4336
  • Wine, Woman and Song, ca. 1930s
    Watercolor on paper
    7 1/2 x 10 1/2 inches

    Titled lower center, on margin.

    #9843
  • Poetical Works N 5, ca. 1935
    Watercolor and gouache on paper
    8 1/2 x 11 inches
    #4294
  • Jubilee No. 2, ca. 1930s
    Watercolor, ink, graphite and collage on paper
    12 x 18 inches

    Titled Jubilee No. 2, lower left

    #9931
  • Untitled (Abstraction), ca. 1935
    Watercolor and graphite on paper
    9 x 12 inches
    #4364
  • Untitled (Abstraction), ca. 1935
    Watercolor and graphite on paper
    16 3/4 x 22 1/2 inches

    Signed Turner, lower right.

    #4335
  • Untitled (Abstraction), ca. 1935
    Gouache, watercolor and graphite on paper
    5 1/2 x 8 1/2 inches
    #4316
  • Performance Herein, ca. 1935
    Gouache and watercolor on paper
    9 x 12 inches

    Titled on mat

    #4295
  • Untitled (Tennis Players), ca. 1950
    Colored pencil and graphite on paper
    9 1/2 x 12 1/2 inches
    #4354
  • Study for Sculpture, ca. 1940s
    Ink on drafting paper on cardboard (original mount)
    19 x 23 3/4 inches
    #9719
  • Study for Sculpture, ca. 1940s
    Ink on drafting paper on cardboard (original mount)
    19 x 23 3/4 inches
    #9720
  • Untitled (Abstraction), ca. 1930s
    Ink and graphite on board
    9 x 12 inches
    #9925
  • Untitled (Abstraction), a. 1930s
    Ink and graphite on board
    8 x 12 inches
    #9926
  • Untitled (Woman Seated), ca. 1930s
    Watercolor, ink, and graphite on paper
    11 x 8 1/2 inches
    #4369
  • Figure Study (Three Graces), ca. 1932
    Watercolor, ink and graphite on paper
    11 x 8 1/2 inches
    #9964
  • Untitled (Two Figures), ca. 1930s
    Pastel, ink, charcoal and graphite on paper
    11 x 8 1/2 inches
    #4368
  • Standing Nude, ca. 1930
    Ink and pastel on paper
    12 1/4 x 7 1/2 inches
    #4325
  • Untitled (Standing Nude), ca. 1930s
    Pastel on paper
    11 x 8 1/2 inches
    #4349
  • Two Nudes, ca. 1930s
    Graphite on paper
    11 1/4 x 8 1/2 inches
    #4363
  • Oberon, ca. 1930s
    Ink and graphite on paper
    11 x 8 1/2 inches

    Signed LeRoy Turner, lower right; titled lower left.

    #9807
  • Untitled (Standing Figure), ca. 1935
    Ink on paper
    13 x 8 1/2 inches
    #4372
  • Untitled (Portrait Study), ca. 1930
    Charcoal on paper
    25 x 19 inches

    Signed Turner lower right.

    #4422
  • Untitled (Seated Woman), ca. 1930
    Charcoal on paper
    24 x 16 inches

    Signed Turner lower right.

    #4424
  • Untitled (Seated Man), ca. 1932
    Graphite on paper
    11 x 8 1/2 inches

    Signed R Le Roy Turner, lower right.

    #9891
  • Figure Study (Seated Nude), ca. 1932
    Charcoal on paper
    14 x 10 inches
    #9897
  • AB 41, ca. 1930s
    Graphite on paper
    11 1/2 x 7 1/2 inches

    Signed Le Roy Turner and titled lower left.

    #4304
  • Untitled (A Composite of Four Sculpture Studies), ca. 1930s
    Ink on paper
    15 x 19 1/2 inches

    Signed Turner, lower right.

    #9927
  • Untitled (Two Nudes), ca. 1935
    Watercolor and ink on paper
    8 1/2 x 11 inches
    #4374
  • Fantasy #2 AB-37, ca. 1930s
    Graphite on paper
    16 x 10 3/4 inches

    Signed R. LeRoy Turner, lower right; signed, titled and numbered upper left margin.

    #4307
  • Fantasy #3 AB-67, ca. 1930s
    Graphite on paper
    9 x 12 inches

    Signed Le Roy Turner and titled lower left.

    #4308
  • Fantasy #5- AB-14, ca. 1930s
    Graphite on paper
    16 x 10 3/4 inches

    Signed, titled and numbered lower left

    #4306
  • AB-13 (Study for "Network Program"), ca. 1935
    Colored pencil and graphite on paper
    7 1/2 x 9 3/4 inches

    Signed Turner, lower right; signed and titled on margin lower right.

    #4327
  • Untitled (Still Life with Guitar), ca. 1930
    Watercolor and graphite on paper
    7 x 10 inches
    #4385
  • Official Review (AB - 29), ca. 1935
    Gouache, watercolor, pastel and graphite on paper
    15 1/2 x 19 3/4 inches

    Signed Turner lower right; titled lower left; signed and numbered on margin lower right.

    #4339
  • Untitled (Abstaction), ca. 1930s
    Ink, watercolor and graphite on paper
    15 x 8 1/4 inches
    #4326
  • Untitled (Abstraction), ca. 1930s
    Graphite on paper
    6 1/4 x 4 3/4 inches
    #4396
  • Untitled (Abstraction), ca. 1935
    Graphite on paper
    5 1/2 x 8 1/4 inches
    #4397
  • Carnival of the City (AB - 5), ca. 1935
    Graphite on paper
    5 1/2 x 8 1/2 inches

    Signed and numbered LeRoy Turner AB-5 lower right; titled lower left.

    #4394
  • Untitled (Study IV), ca. 1930s
    Graphite on paper
    5 1/2 x 4 3/4 inches

    Inscribed IV upper right.

    #4359
  • Untitled (Study VII), ca. 1930s
    Graphite on paper
    5 1/2 x 4 3/4 inches

    Inscribed VII upper right.

    #4361
  • Untitled (Two Figures), ca. 1930
    Ink on paper
    11 x 8 1/2 inches
    #4415
  • Scénes Alsaciennes, ca. 1930s
    Ink and graphite on paper
    10 x 14 inches

    Titled Scénes Alsaciennes, lower left.

    #4377
  • Untitled (Abstraction), ca. 1930s
    Graphite on paper
    3 x 5 inches
    #7739
  • Untitled (Abstraction), ca. 1930s
    Graphite on paper
    3 3/4 x 2 3/4 inches

    Signed R. LeRoy Turner on original mat, lower center.

    #4322
  • Untitled (Abstraction), ca. 1930s
    Graphite on paper
    4 x 2 1/2 inches
    #7736
  • Untitled (Abstraction), ca. 1930s
    Graphite on paper
    4 x 2 1/2 inches
    #7737
  • Untitled (Nude), 1933
    Graphite on paper
    11 x 8 1/2 inches

    Dated upper left, Dec. 13 ‘33.

    #4406
  • Untitled (Abstraction), 1933
    Graphite on paper
    11 x 8 1/2 inches

    Dated 7-26-33 lower left

    #4384

R. Leroy Turner is recognized for his vibrant Modern abstractions completed from the late 1920s through the early 1950s. His artwork emphasizes a lyrical form of Cubism, often inspired by visual interpretations of classical music. Many of his compositions are titled after specific pieces of music, and frequently they include themes of melodic symbols, devices and musical scores.

Born in Sherwood, ND in 1905, Turner spent much of his childhood living in Minnesota. In Minneapolis, LeRoy Turner studied painting at the University of Minnesota with the noted artists and instructors, Cameron Booth and Edmund Kinzinger. Towards the late 1920s, Turner became highly influenced by the paintings styles of Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Juan Gris, and Paul Klee. In 1928 he traveled to Europe to further his art studies in Munich and Paris. While painting in Europe he continued his association with both instructors Booth and Kinzinger. Returning to the United States, Turner joined the faculty of the St. Paul School of Art in St Paul, MN, where he became a painting instructor from 1933 to 1936. In 1935, to favored reviews, Turner exhibited his abstract paintings at a one-man show at the Nash-Conley Galleries in Minneapolis.

In 1936, Turner and fellow artist Alexander Corazzo joined the prestigious European avant-garde painting group, Abstraction-Création. Founded in Paris in 1931 to counteract the rise of Surrealism, this influential organization of painters and sculptors, which included Piet Mondrian, Jean Arp and Albert Gleizes, among others, aimed to promote the concepts of Modern geometric, non-figurative abstract painting. The group emphasized a synthesis of formal line, color and purity, incorporating the concepts of non-objective painting, Cubism and abstraction. Turner and Corazzo were two of a very select number of American artists accepted into the group, which also included Alexander Calder and Carl Holty. Turner exhibited with Abstraction-Création, which included two paintings in 1936, showing under the single name “Leroy”.

Leroy Turner suffered from chronic poor health through much of his adult life. While many of his American colleagues from Abstraction-Création, such as Calder, Holty and Corazzo, continued to exhibit and travel extensively, Turner returned to Minneapolis to become a full-time art instructor and administrator. From 1936-1948 Tuner became a respected teacher of painting at the University of Minnesota. During the Second World War, from 1940-1942, he served as the Assistant Director at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. Later in his life he became a painting and sculpture instructor at the Stillwater Art Colony in Minnesota from 1938-1950. Turner died in 1957 in Stillwater, MN at the age of 52.

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