American, 1850 - 1918
After primary education in Quaker and public schools, C.Y. Turner enrolled at the Maryland Institute at age 15. He attended evening classes for some three or four years, obtaining employment as a photograph retoucher and ultimately, as an apprentice in Frank M. Davis's architectural office. Moving to New York at age 21, he enrolled in the National Academy Schools (Antique, 1872-5; Life 1873-5), winning a medal and cash prize for a life drawing in 1875 which is said to have enabled him to buy his first kit of oil paints. That year, he helped organize the Art Students League, serving as its treasurer and studying under Walter Shirlaw.
Turner went to France in 1878 and worked successively with Jean-Paul Laurens, Mih ly Munk csy, and Léon Bonnat. Upon his return to New York in spring 1881, he organized a summer class at East Hampton, Long Island. He taught often thereafter, at the Art Students League (1881-4), the National Academy of Design (1887-97), and the Maryland Institute, where he was named director late in life. His reputation was established in the 1880s as a painter of colonial and Quaker life. One such painting, The Courtship of Miles Standish, won the Second Hallgarten Prize in 1884.
At the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, Turner served under Frank Millet as assistant director of decoration. When he won a competition to decorate New York's Manhattan Hotel, he shifted away from easel paintings to murals. His works--often derived from American history--decorated private homes, several hotels in New York and Washington, D.C., and the court houses of Baltimore, Jersey City, and Newark NJ. At the National Academy, Turner served on the Council twice (1889-92 and 1899-1902) and as vice president for two terms beginning in 1903. He was also the author of several art-related articles in turn-of-the-century periodicals.
Turner went to France in 1878 and worked successively with Jean-Paul Laurens, Mih ly Munk csy, and Léon Bonnat. Upon his return to New York in spring 1881, he organized a summer class at East Hampton, Long Island. He taught often thereafter, at the Art Students League (1881-4), the National Academy of Design (1887-97), and the Maryland Institute, where he was named director late in life. His reputation was established in the 1880s as a painter of colonial and Quaker life. One such painting, The Courtship of Miles Standish, won the Second Hallgarten Prize in 1884.
At the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, Turner served under Frank Millet as assistant director of decoration. When he won a competition to decorate New York's Manhattan Hotel, he shifted away from easel paintings to murals. His works--often derived from American history--decorated private homes, several hotels in New York and Washington, D.C., and the court houses of Baltimore, Jersey City, and Newark NJ. At the National Academy, Turner served on the Council twice (1889-92 and 1899-1902) and as vice president for two terms beginning in 1903. He was also the author of several art-related articles in turn-of-the-century periodicals.
