Grace Turnbull

Grace Turnbull
Born	1880  Baltimore
Died	1976  (aged 95–96) Baltimore
Occupation	Artist

Grace Hill Turnbull (December 30, 1880 – December 26, 1976) was an American painter, sculptor and writer.

Biography

Born to a cultured family in Baltimore,^[1] Turnbull studied painting at the Maryland Institute College of Art, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and the Art Students League of New York. She then turned her attention to sculpture, studying at the Rinehart School of the Maryland Institute and in Rome.^[2] In 1914 she received the Whitelaw Reid Prize in Paris,^[3] and she received the Anna Hyatt Huntington Prize in 1932 and 1944.^[2]

Turnbull was notorious during her life for her commitment to abstinence in many fields – she objected strenuously to alcohol, and served only apple juice at her own gatherings – and her support for civil rights. She lived in Baltimore for much of her life in a house and studio, which was designed by her brother Bayard.^[1]

Besides her artistic pursuits she wrote a number of books, including Tongues of Fire (1929)^[4] and Fruit of the Vine (1950).^[5] Her autobiography Chips from My Chisel was published in 1953,^[6] and she also editor Essence of Plotinus (1934).^[7] Turnbull also wrote pamphlets and contributed articles to a variety of publications.^[2] One example is the eight page pamphlet, Battle Front as Seen by a Sculptor, published by the Women's International League in 1936.^[8]

Turnbull's 1941 sculpture, Python of India, is owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art,^[9] while two of her public artworks, a memorial to Lizette Woodworth Reese and a statue of a naiad, remain in Baltimore.^[10] A collection of her papers is held at Syracuse University.^[2] Her house at 223 Chancery Road^[11] in the Guilford neighborhood, which she had willed along with a collection of artworks to the Maryland Historical Society,^[12] still stands.^[10] Her work was the subject of a retrospective exhibition at the Baltimore Museum of Art in 1996.^[1]

References

1. Dorsey, John (26 May 1996). "Grace Turnbull: an artful life Art: Baltimore Museum of Art will exhibit paintings and sculpture by Baltimore's multitalented artist". The Baltimore Sun. Archived from the original on 20 September 2016. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
2. "Grace Hill Turnbull Papers: An inventory of her papers at Syracuse University". Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
3. Jules Heller; Nancy G. Heller (19 December 2013). North American Women Artists of the Twentieth Century: A Biographical Dictionary. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-63882-5.
4. Turnbull, Grace Hill (1929). Tongues of fire; a bible of sacred scriptures of the pagan world. New York: The Macmillan Company. OCLC 1262708.
5. Turnbull, Grace Hill (1950). Fruit of the vine, as seen by many witnesses of all times. Baltimore. OCLC 4068234.
6. Turnbull, Grace Hill (1953). Chips from my chisel an autobiography. Rindge, N.H.: R.R. Smith. OCLC 965748926.
7. Plotinus; Turnbull, Grace Hill; Mackenna, Stephen; Porphyry (1934). The essence of Plotinus: extracts from the six Enneads and Porphyry's life of Plotinus. New York: Oxford University Press. OCLC 1662948.
8. Turnbull, Grace Hill; Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (1936). Battle front as seen by a sculptor. Washington: Women's Internat. League. OCLC 44126115.
9. "Python of India – 1941 – Grace Hill Turnbull". The MET. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
10. "Turnbull House [Pictures]". Baltimore Sun. 2017. Archived from the original on 11 February 2017. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
11. "Notable Residents —the Arts and Letters" (PDF). GuilfordAssociation.org. Summer 2019. Retrieved April 11, 2024.
12. Gunts, Edward (1 November 2008). "From preservation to desperation". Baltimore Sun. Archived from the original on 11 February 2017. Retrieved 11 February 2017.