BEN TURNER
(1912-1966)
Ben
Turner was born in Gallup,
New Mexico
in 1912 and at a young age showed a great interest in art. Upon
graduation from
high school, he enrolled at the University of New
Mexico and
continued with his art studies at the Chicago Art Institute. He was the
creator
of a daily comic strip called “Jerry “n’Jake” that ran in over 48
newspapers in
the Southwest.
Turner was a
staff artist during WW II and
established the 15th Air Force Staff Artists. He painted
portraits
and made posters and painted his impressions of battle scenes from Bari, Italy
and Ploesti Fields in Romania.
These were featured in Look and Life
magazines. Turner established studios in Redstone, Colorado,
Santa Fe and Taos,
New Mexico and Matzatlan, Mexico.
It was while at his studio in Taos, he
was able
to study with the legendary Taos
artists, Blumenschein, Berninghaus, Couse, Higgins and Sharp. Ben
Turner was a
direct descendant of Joseph Mallord Willian Turner the famous English
marine
painter. He died in 1966 in Matzatlan,
Mexico.
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