William Ralph Turner (1920 – 2013) SOLD

We currently have available two works, both of which are framed. The first a typical Manchester street scene called Cheetham Hill, which is oil on board and measures Height 7.5 inches x Width 9.5 inches (H19cms x W24 cms). This painting is available at £4800 plus ARR subject to prior sale (Item 131). The second painting is an oil on canvas and is called Mow Cop and measures Height 15.5 inches x Width 19.25 inches (H39.5cms x W49 cms). This painting is for sale in excellent condition and is available £6950 plus ARR subject to prior sale. (Item 133).

William Ralph Turner F.R.S.A. was born in Charlton-Le-Medlock in 1920 and he belonged to a group of well known northern artists like Alan Lowndes, Theodore Major and Harold Riley. He was interested and influenced by the German expressionists and French Fauves and drew inspiration from Chagall, Beckmann and Braque. Throughout the 1950’s and 1960’s he would go to the Crane Kalman exhibitions in Manchester taking special notes of the colours and techniques used by the artists on show. He would then use his own skill and innovation to translate these into his own style and paintings of northern industrial scenes.

His paintings often depicted street scenes, cotton mills and smoking chimneys within which people would make do, eeking out a living under grey scowling northern skies. He always managed to convey an empathy with his subject matter with leaning buildings and the use of bright colours like red, blue, orange and yellow to give a little hope in what is presented as a somewhat oppressive environment. He tended to capture his subject matter from an amazing memory setting the scenes in Salford, Manchester and Stockport and portraying life as it happened through the eyes of everyday folk like the rag and bone man or milkman living and working not far away from the terraced houses often present in many paintings. Over his professional career he became known as one of the great northern industrial painters and with not much left to remind us of Northern England in the early to mid 20th century he has become widely collected by people like Sebastian Coe, the late Sir Peter Ustinov and Eddie Shah. His work is also held in institutions like Stockport Art Gallery.

Name	Dimensions	Price
Cheetham Hill	Height 7.5 inches x Width 9.5 inches (H19cms x W24 cms)	£
Mow Cop	Height 15.5 inches x Width 19.25 inches (H39.5cms x W49 cms)	£