Lot 121: WINIFRED TURNER

WINIFRED TURNER BRITISH 1903-1983 THOUGHT 85 by 77cm., 33½ by 30¼in.

The collection of Jessica Turner, the artist's sister

This is the original plaster model of Thought, which Winifred Turner exhibited in bronze at the Royal Academy in 1933 (no. 1703). The bronze was purchased with funds from the Chantrey bequest for the Tate Gallery (N04708).

With her head turned and her legs elegantly crossed, Thought is carefully balanced in taut and balletic pose. Nicholas Penny writes that Winifred Turner was a skilled dancer and had only been held back from professional training by her height. Jessica Turner recalled to Penny that her sister often modelled for her own sculptures, with the aid of a large mirror.

Another plaster model by Turner, entitled Youth, was sold in these rooms on 2υnd June 2009 for £46,850.

RELATED LITERATURE
N. Penny, Alfred and Winifred Turner, ex. cat. Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 1998, fig. 22