Helen Maria Turner (American/Louisiana, 1858-1958), "The Big Bouquet", oil on canvas, signed lower left, signed, titled and "Victor Claessens Waereghem Belgique" canvas stamp en verso, 30 in. x 24 in., framed, overall 35 3/8 in. x 29 1/4 in. x 1 3/4 in. Note: American Impressionist Helen Maria Turner was only the third woman elected to full membership in the National Academy of Design, the first from Louisiana, and one of the first from the South. In the second half of her career, Turner achieved significant critical acclaim and financial success, and her awards were as numerous as her exhibitions. The 1880s saw the art world open significantly for women in America, and Turner benefited greatly from the art clubs and associations in both New Orleans and New York, where she studied under artists such as Andres Molinary, Bror Anders Wikstrom, William Merritt Chase, and Joseph De Camp. She became part of a growing group of women who were able to support themselves as professional artists through hard work and perseverance in a field dominated by men. As Lewis Hoyer Rabbage writes: "Among all the influences on Helen Turner's personal life, and on her work, none could be considered more profound than her association with the artists' colony at Cragsmoor, New York." Beginning with her first summer there in 1906 upon the invitation of Charles Curran, Turner spent the summers from 1906 through 1941 in Cragsmoor, with only two exceptions. In 1911, she attended the William Merritt Chase class in Italy, and in 1922, she visited with an artist friend, Thalia Millett Malcom, in Paris. By 1910, Turner had built her own house in Cragsmoor and named it "Takusan." The home featured a spacious second floor art studio, expansive porches and a lush garden. While other artists depicted Cragsmoor's mountain, forest and meadow landscapes, Turner focused on her surroundings closer to home. In particular, the graceful porches encircled by a yard full of birch trees, rhododendrons, hollyhock and other bright flowers were a constant source of inspiration. Women on porches and in garden settings were popular subjects among American Impressionists, and Turner's body of work within this realm are among her most successfully realized and important canvases. Faced with the challenge of capturing the richness of color, pattern and texture of the garden, without distracting from the importance of the model, Turner displayed her full skill and range as an artist. Ref.: Faquin, Jane Ward. Helen M. Turner: The Woman?s Point of View. Memphis: Dixon Gallery and Gardens, 2010; Jalenak, Maia. Helen M. Turner: American Impressionist (M.A. Thesis). Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University, 2003; Rabbage, Lewis Hoyer. Helen M. Turner, NA (1858-1958) A Retrospective Exhibition. Cragsmoor, NY: The Cragsmoor Free Library, 1983.

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