The Search for Ted Turner

By Howard Kirby

This book describes the life and art of Theodore Roy (Ted) Turner. It describes the aspects of his life and art, first as a University of Virginia professor for thirty five years followed by seventeen years as a full time artist.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Mar 14, 2015
• ISBN: 9781312991378

Book preview

The Search for Ted Turner

The Search for Ted Turner

Howard Kirby

Copyright @ 2015 by Howard Leburn Kirby, Jr.

Library of Congress Control Number: 01144081

ISBN:   978-0-692-34533-7                                           

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This book was printed in the United States of America.

Rev. Date: 30 January 2015

Publisher:  Georgetown Associates

Box 600772

Dallas, Texas   75360

About the Author:

Howard Kirby holds a BA and BS from Rice University and an MS from SMU. His last assignment was CEO and Chairman of the Board of Teltrend Inc. (TLTN), a NASDAQ listed company.

After successfully selling the company to Westell (WSTL), also a NASDAQ listed company, Howard continued his lifelong interest in art and painting, and then in 2000, freed from the pressure of corporate life, Howard earned a Certificate in Painting at SAIC, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

This book tells the story of how Howard’s first interest developed in Theodore Roy (Ted) Turner, and how subsequently he slowly became more interested in Ted Turner, a man who dedicated his life to painting until his death in September 2002 (at the age of 80). In the end, I hope you will conclude that Ted Turner was a man of considerable talent, and a man who deserves a closer look from the art world.

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This book shows a number of photographs of paintings by Ted and Sally Turner. At the point of publication of this book (January 2015), the author owned 215 Ted Turner paintings and 39 Sally Turner paintings. Most of these paintings were purchased directly from Ken Farmer who had earlier purchased the complete Ted and Sally Turner collection from Ted’s heirs (Ted’s three daughters). However, seven of the Ted Turner paintings and five Sally Turner paintings were bought by Howard Kirby at various auctions. These twelve paintings are identified by a triple asterisk (***) after the caption of the applicable painting in The Appendix. The Appendix is an annotated description of the paintings of Ted and Sally Turner which have been sold on auction up to this date (December 2014). 

Ninety eight (98) of the author’s Ted Turner paintings and ten (10) of the author’s Sally paintings are specifically shown as figures in this book, and identified by the designation (HK) at the end of each painting description.

An Exhibition History (7 pages), Awards Summary (1 page), and Bibliography (3 pages) on Ted Turner is available from the Publisher of this book upon request. The various museums and newspaper articles are referenced in these documents.

Many people helped in this effort and are identified in the chapters which follow. I would like to specifically recognize Suzanna Turner for the great assistance she has given me in this effort.

Howard Kirby

Chapter 1  The Beginning

The search for Theodore Roy Ted Turner began inauspiciously.

In August 2009, I was casually looking at upcoming offerings of several auction houses on the internet, when I saw one auction house offering several paintings by Ted Turner. This Ted Turner was, according to the offering, a deceased art professor, formerly from the University of Virginia. Provenance for each of these paintings was given as estate of the artist. A long list of museums where this man’s art had been displayed in the past was given. Then details on the size of each painting, and whether or not each painting was signed, and how, et cetera. By each painting his name, Theodore Roy Ted Turner was given and his life span was specified as 1922-2002.

The particular auction offering these paintings in August 2009 was Ken Farmer Auctions and Appraisals Number 116, scheduled to be held on August 29, 2009 which included eleven lots of paintings by Theodore Roy Ted Turner.

I bid on several of these paintings via the internet, and in the end won one of these. Several days later the painting arrived at my home, dutifully bundled up and protected between sheets of foam. I casually examined the painting and relegated it to the top of a tall bookcase in my study. It stayed there for almost three years when mysteriously I saw on my computer an upcoming auction by Harlowe-Powell Auction Gallery, scheduled for April 14, 2012.

This auction offered a number of lots of Ted Turner paintings and also a number of lots by Ted’s wife Sally. The Harlowe-Powell operation was located in Charlottesville, Virginia, as opposed to Ken Farmer’s Auction house which at that time was located in Radford, Virginia.

At any rate I decided first to take a closer look at the painting I had purchased almost three years before. It was a scene from the beach probably near Sandbridge, Virginia. The sheer weight of the canvas is heavier than one would expect, reflecting a generous and almost prolific application of impasto paint, both with a palette knife, and in places, a brush. The painting apparently began with an undercoat of alizarin crimson, and was then covered in places with heavy layers of grey across the top, and across the bottom a heavy application of greenish white. Then, a narrow band of white moved toward a vanishing horizon on the left side of the painting with an incised green line forming the horizon. Below this green line is the sea with much of the dark grey then overpainted very roughly with lighter almost white paint. To the right, in the sea, are two sailboats yielding the title of this painting Sailboats #2 (marked on the rear of the upper stretcher). To the left of the two sailboats is a man painted in dark almost black-purple and another person in green to his left and to the rear, and beyond the two people, a light blue beach umbrella. Below the man, the figure is to his left and then further back is a seated figure, and then further back still is a standing figure. Overall there is a rough application of slightly bluish sand covering an area of almost 50% of the painting.  The individual half way back from the man and his companion is accented with a very large blob of white paint. At the bottom lower right is a skillfully incised signature T. Turner.

Further study of this painting recalls a statement by John Marin: And these symbols of his own creation (being of his own particular seeing) gives him a greater pleasure than the object seen. He reforms them, he focuses them to his own inner seeing and longings.

It is clear that Ted Turner is a man who values form over content, design over illustration, generalized over specific, nonobjective over photo-realism, and painterly over linear. In short, Ted is a romantic painter!

From this figure we see one distinctive characteristic of Ted’s art, given by Joseph-Emile Muller describing Matisse: Form in these works is now simply indicated in bold strokes. It is suggested rather than defined; sometimes there is an interval between form and ground where the canvas is left white, making a halo in which the objects seem to float, …

Teddy Turner Pictures 002

Figure 1.      Ted Turner    Sailboat #2   Oil on canvas   signed: T. Turner  C-3413P   30x36   (Enhanced Mature style)    (HK)

So what did this painting mean? When was it painted? And who exactly is this man Theodor Roy Ted Turner?

At this point I decided to look back on my computer to the (then) upcoming Harlowe-Powell auction scheduled for April 14, 2012. In the end I decided to bid on the ten Ted Turner oil/acrylic paintings and the three Sally Turner paintings offered. Several days later I learned that I had been successful on two of the Ted Turner paintings and one of the Sally Turner paintings. A package containing the three paintings arrived a couple of weeks later.

Starting with the new Ted Turner paintings, The Fuchsia Chair. This painting is rendered in acrylic versus the oil paint used on the first painting. This painting also starts with an outline of the scene in charcoal. This pattern was then sprayed with a fixative. Areas were then blocked out in violet, dark green and yellow and then allowed to dry. A chair was then painted in brilliant fuchsia, and two figures were painted in grey and violet and the table painted in Naples yellow. The seated figure was then incised with vertical lines, and the other figure got vertical lines marked with charcoal.  A large white area below the two figures, the chair, and the table, was then incised with charcoal lines, all more or less vertical. Charcoal was then used again to outline the figures, the table, and a pot containing a plant, and finally a large painting over the whole group. Finally the final application of charcoal on the painting was made permanent with spray fixative.

Overall the painting has a beautiful coherence. Small areas of dark green and cadmium yellow peek through, with details of skin tone, and yellow and violet highlights define the painting. Large areas of the painting are left unpainted, particularly at the top.

It is clear that Ted started his painting with schemata, the simplest shapes: rectangles, triangles, and circles. The degree of detail is also quite limited and color is beautifully conceived.

Figure 2.Ted Turner    The Fuchsia Chair   Acrylic on canvas   5077

no signature   36x30     (Charcoal Outline style)   (HK)

The next painting labeled Night is a relatively small painting                                             (12x16). It appeared to be of the general style employed on the original painting purchased almost three years before. This painting was first roughly painted with a light coating of alizarin crimson, then green, overpainted in two places, followed with a view of two white windows, with violet and yellow selectively applied to these two windows. In the lower left hand corner is the incised signature T. Turner.                                                              

Figure 3.Ted Turner    Night    Oil on canvas   signed: T. Turner

C-3093P       12x16   (Enhanced mature style)   (HK)

The last painting is a wondrously fine large painting (40x30) by Sally Turner. The years of her training shows through strongly in this work. The title Leotard seems a little understated for a nude woman. A sketchily painted open window to the right, combined with various fabrics on the back of her chair complete the painting. Paint application shows a great touch and only in a few very small places does the paint have an impasto texture.

C:\Users\Howard\Dropbox\Sally Photos\Picture70 952.jpg

Figure 4.   Sally Turner    Leotard     Oil on canvas   signed: S. Turner

40x30      50052     (Classic style)    (HK)

Shortly after buying these three paintings I learned that Ken Farmer had entered the various lots of Ted and Sally Turner at the Harlowe-Powell auction. I also discovered that Ken had purchase the residual collection of paintings by Ted and Sally Turner some years back, and had a woman, Gillian Bryce from Atlanta, selling some of these paintings. I subsequently learned from Gillian that she was planning to show some of the Turner paintings at High Point, North Carolina at the annual antique show that was coming up on April 20-24, 2012.

Consequently, I flew to Greensboro a few days later and purchased five paintings by Ted Turner and one by Sally Turner. I met Gillian Bryce who said Ken Farmer was the man who owned the residual Turner paintings and she would see Ken at this show later in the week. The paintings I bought at this High Point show were of two of the styles used by Ted Turner, and the classic style used by Sally Turner.

From the ten paintings I owned at this point I saw three styles by Ted Turner: an original mature style, an enhanced mature style, and a charcoal outline style, while both of the paintings by Sally Turner seemed to be of her classic style.  I knew after doing a little research that Ted had also worked in watercolor, in woodblock, and in assemblage techniques as well as a style referred to by some people as graffiti.  And Sally had also worked in a cubist style, and also created a number of paintings using a technique called mono print, in which a single print is made from a painting applied first on glass and then an impression on canvas or paper.

The painting The Band Jam (Figure 5) apparently shows Ted’s interest in Jazz music. It apparently shows a performance at some Charlottesville club. The painting shows three chandelier lights hanging from the ceiling at the top, demonstrating one of Ted’s often employed motifs. In the foreground we see several people all faced toward the band with the exception of the woman who is turned looking straight at the viewer of this painting.

Figure 5.Ted Turner    The Band Jam     Acrylic on canvas

C-1254P    40x30    (Charcoal Outline style)   (HK)

The next painting entitled Landscape and Cottage (Figure 6.) is a relatively small painting done in Ted’s Mature style.

Figure 6.Ted Turner    Landscape and Cottage    Oil on canvas

signed: T. Turner   C-1715P   14x18      (Mature style)   (HK)

In Figure 6 we see according to Charles Dunn a world dynamic, asymmetrical and a little cockeyed. And with Ted’s paintings we see a stress on pattern, lost edges, and the merging of subject and background.

The next painting entitled UVA Football Game (Figure 7) shows the banners of the two teams flying above the gridiron.                                                      

Figure 7. Ted Turner   UVA Football Game    Oil on canvas    signed: T. Turner   C-3192P    20 x 20   (Mature style)     (HK)

The next painting (Figure 8) shows a couple in the rear embracing, then in the middle distance is a chair obliquely tilted on the floor with black charcoal lines defining the floor, and finally the top half of a nude man peering back at the couple.

C:\Users\Howard\Dropbox\Photos\My Purchased Ted Turner Paintings\Teddy Turner Pictures 040.JPG

Figure 8.    Ted Turner    Interior Scene #4    Acrylic on canvas

unsigned      C-3108P   12x12     (Charcoal Outline style) (HK)

The next painting (Figure 9) shows a very skilled painting entitled Yellow Cab signed with an incised signature T. Turner.

Figure 9.      Ted Turner    Yellow Cab   Oil on canvas   signed: T. Turner  C-5030P    30x30    (Enhanced Mature style)   (HK)

The next painting (Figure 10) is a painting by Sally Turner called A Good Book and unsigned.   

C:\Users\Howard\Dropbox\Sally Photos\Picture70 951.jpg

Figure 10.    Sally Turner    A Good Book    Oil on canvas    Unsigned     50029      30x24     (Classic style)   (HK)

Over the next six months ending in December 2012 I purchased four groups of Ted and Sally paintings from Ken Farmer via Gillian Bryce.  So I now owned 103 paintings, 96 by Ted and 7 by Sally. In this process I characterized Ted’s oil and acrylic paintings into seven categories (exclusive of Ted’s watercolor and wood block paintings). The characterization now consisted of:

The First 103 Purchased Paintings by Ted/Sally Turner

Ted Turner            Sally Turner

Mature style                                          32

Enhanced Mature style                       10

Charcoal Outline style                         20

Graffiti style                                          17

Enhanced Graffiti style                          1

Abstract style                                        14

Assemblages style                                  2

Sally classic style                                                                     7

------                         -----

96                              7

Several of the paintings in the 103 paintings (purchased by late November 2012) are covered as the search for Ted (and Sally) Turner continued. At this point I would like to show you examples of the styles not yet presented, but seemed clear to me at this early date.

Shown in Figure 11 (below) is an example of Ted’s graffiti style. Paintings typically use lettering somewhere on the painting.

C:\Users\Howard\Dropbox\Photos\My Purchased Ted Turner Paintings\Picture70 301.jpg

Figure 11.   Ted Turner    Remembering Graffiti    Oil on canvas                                                    Not signed     C-3362P       30x40     (Graffiti style)   (HK)

Figure 12 shows a graffiti painting with the more coherent color coordination and otherwise close to the original graffiti style.

C:\Users\Howard\Dropbox\Photos\My Purchased Ted Turner Paintings\Teddy Turner 5 024.JPG

Figure 12.     Ted Turner     Passed Out     Oil on canvas                                                                      Not signed     5059     40x30     (Enhanced Graffiti style) (HK)   

Figure 13 below shows a typical Ted Turner painting in the abstract style.

C:\Users\Howard\Dropbox\Photos\My Purchased Ted Turner Paintings\Teddy Turner Three 005.JPG

Figure 13.     Ted Turner    Abstract     Oil on canvas     signed: T. Turner

C-3217P    24x22    (Abstract style)   (HK)

Finally, shown below is an Assemblage style painting, assembled with plywood and pieces of wood and finally painted using acrylic paint.

C:\Users\Howard\Dropbox\Photos\My Purchased Ted Turner Paintings\Picture70 1102.jpg

Figure 14.     Ted Turner    Sally and Friend    Acrylic on found pieces

Not signed    5091     21x24    (Assemblage style)   (HK)

These fourteen figures (shown above) show my introduction to Ted and Sally’s painting. They pose as many questions as answers. But I have given you the same introduction I had to these two mysterious and intriguing people.

The painting lots by Ted and Sally Turner sold on auction are shown in The Appendix.  This includes twelve paintings owned by the author noted in The Appendix by a triple asterisk (***) after the Lot number and the painter (whether Ted Turner or Sally Turner).  The author’s total Ted/Sally collection is 253 oil or acrylic paintings, 214 by Ted and 39 by Sally, many of whom are shown in this book and marked by the symbol (HK) at the end of each painting’s description. The general range of oil and acrylic paintings produced by Ted and Sally over their careers is revealed by their work shown in this book and in The Appendix. Both of these artists, Ted and Sally, had careers which lasted over 60 years. The paintings produced by Sally started approximately five years earlier than Ted and ended with her dyeing in 1997, five years before Ted died (2002).

Chapter 2  The Search for Ted Turner Continues

I knew as the year 2012 came to a close that Ken Farmer was no longer using Gillian Bryce as a dealer for Ted and Sally paintings. I had talked to Ken several times, but I had no clear idea at this point what I would be able to learn from him about Ted Turner. I had spoken to several people in Charlottesville who knew Ted, but it was not clear what exactly could be gained from these people.

I had received some information, mostly newspaper clippings, about Ted from Maggie McClellan, the librarian of the Virginia Museum of Fine Art.