William Turnbull

William Turnbull was born in Dundee, Scotland, in 1922. He worked as an illustrator in Dundee (1939-41) and studied at the Slade School of Fine Art, London (1946-48). For the next two years he lived in Paris, and on returning to London he became Visiting Artist at the Central School of Arts and Crafts (1953-61). He later taught sculpture there (1964-72) and now lives and works in London. Both painter and sculptor, Turnbull finds sources for his work in other cultures and in classicism. A Chinese mask, the gateway to a Japanese Shinto temple, a…

William Turnbull was born in Dundee, Scotland, in 1922. He worked as an illustrator in Dundee (1939-41) and studied at the Slade School of Fine Art, London (1946-48). For the next two years he lived in Paris, and on returning to London he became Visiting Artist at the Central School of Arts and Crafts (1953-61). He later taught sculpture there (1964-72) and now lives and works in London.

Both painter and sculptor, Turnbull finds sources for his work in other cultures and in classicism. A Chinese mask, the gateway to a Japanese Shinto temple, a primitive artefact from the tribes of Borneo or a small Cycladic goddess might be the starting point, or indeed a final reference Abstraction is also important to Turnbull, and the issue of the marriage between abstraction and the desire to convey information in sculpture with great economy of form and precise content. Richard Morphet, in a catalogue to the exhibition Sculpture in the Close at Jesus College, Cambridge, in 1990, sums up his work: 'Turnbull's sculptures are intensely factual and their spirit is classical. Yet in their combination of formal concentration with runic articulation and metamorphic content they have a presence which approaches the magical.'

Turnbull has exhibited widely in Britain and abroad throughout his long career. His work is in public collections throughout the world.