Provenance
Daniel Jacobs, New York
Garth Clark Gallery, New York
Acquired from the above by the present owner, 2007
Literature
Garth Clark, American Potters: The Work of Twenty Modern Masters, New York, 1981, p. 123 for a similar example
Rosalie Goldstein, ed., Robert Turner: A Potter's Retrospective, exh. cat., Milwaukee Art Museum, 1986, p. 5 for a similar example
Ward Doubet, "Robert Turner," American Ceramics, vol. 9, no. 4, 1991, illustrated p. 21
Catalogue Essay
In the catalogue for Robert Turner’s 1986 retrospective, philosopher Kenneth Westphal wrote, “There is nothing accidental or arbitrary in Turner’s pots, and yet there is nothing in them that is forced or contrived. Their combination of necessity and grace is achieved only by Turner’s sensitivity to the materials and structures he uses and to the content they express.” Turner began focusing on abstract vessel forms rather than utilitarian forms in the late 1960s and he often drew inspiration from his various travels across the American Southwest as well as more distant places such as West Africa. He primarily created conical, domed, and cylindrical forms in reds, white, and dark browns, as seen in the present offering, which are all exquisite examples of the artist’s commitment to this restrained vocabulary of forms and palette of glazes. Robert Turner’s work belongs to museum collections including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, among others.

Contemporary Studio Artworks from the Estate of Jack R. Bershad

Robert Turner

"Dome" vessel

circa 1976
Glazed stoneware.
10 5/8 in. (27 cm) high
Underside incised TURNER.

Estimate
$2,000 - 3,000

Sold for $2,520

Contact Specialist

DesignNewYork@phillips.com
212-940-1268

New York Auction 8 June 2022