Don LaViere Turner
View in a Jungle
1959
Woodcut on Paper
15 1/2" x 12", Unframed
Signed and dated in lower right corner and titled in bottom left.
Good Condition- small mark on top middle of paper.
Bio Don LaViere Turner (1929-1997)
Born in Milwaukee, WI in 1929 Wisconsin's native son Don LaViere Turner established his reputation as a graphic and fine artist under the tutelage of John Wilde and later in his career redefined the art of metalpoint drawing.
He received his B.S. & M.S. degrees at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and in 1958 received his M.F.A. from the Los Angeles County Art Institute. (Otis)
His early graphic work shows a strong German Expressionist influence using woodcut and etching as mediums. He experimented as many artists did with abstract black and white lithography in the 1960's. Known for his precise drawing his talent turned to metalpoint drawings and constructions that ranged from graphic surrealism to mammoth abstract constructions incorporating wood metal, fabric etc.
Exhibiting nationally by 1953 he received numerous grants and AWARDS including: Tiffany Foundation grant, 1958; Jose Drudis Foundation Grant, 1956; UNESCO Grant, 1962 (Paris residence); Outstanding Young Man of the Year" Award, 1964; William Carlos Williams 1st Annual Award, Graphics, 1964. Purchase awards have been granted by the Wisconsin Painters and Sculptors; Oklahoma Printmakers Society, and the Pasadena Art Museum.
He is credited with over 60 solo print and fine art exhibitions and twice as many group exhibitions that cover virtually every major important graphic show in past years including the World Drawing Exhibition, Chicago Art Institute; Smithsonian Institute; Pennell Exhibition of Prints, Library of Congress; Butler Art Institute; The Print Club, Philadelphia; Print Festival, Pasadena Art Museum; Los Angeles County Museum Annual; "Seventy-Five Printmakers," selected by the Society of American Graphic Artists.
Moving to California with his family he quickly was recognized on a national scale as a unique and gifted artist. His work resides in numerous public and private collections including the Library of Congress, Washington D.C.; MOMA, NY; Norton Simon, Pasadena, CA; Oakland Museum, CA; San Francisco Museum of Fine Art, CA; Long Beach Art Museum, CA; Los Angeles County Museum, CA; Phoenix Art Museum, AZ; Kenosha Public Museum, WI.
Returning to Wisconsin in 1971 he taught at UW Madison and later received a National Endowment for the Arts (Artist-in-residence position with the Federal Prison Bureau) He revived his early love of woodcut and linocut and also experimented with large canvases of bright colors resolving those early 1950's and 60's images in oil and acrylics.
His artistic oeuvre was conservatively estimated at 3,000 unique images and writings when he passed on in 1997 at his residence "Morganfijoreg", Westfield, WI
