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William Turnbull

The sculptor and painter William Turnbull was born in Dundee, Scotland. In 1946, he was accepted as a painting student at the Slade School of Fine Art in London, but almost immediately transferred to the sculpture department. Turnbull moved to Paris in 1948 where he met Léger, Giacometti and Brancusi. In 1950 he moved back to London and exhibited with Eduardo Paolozzi at the Hanover Gallery, London, an exhibition organized by their mutual friend David Sylvester. In 1952, Turnbull was included in Young Sculptors at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA), and in New Aspects of British Sculpture in the British Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. He became a member of the Independent Group within the ICA, and taught part-time at the Central School of Arts and Crafts, London: Experimental Design until 1961, and Sculpture until 1972. William Turnbull: Retrospective 1946-2003 was held at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield in 2005, and a survey exhibition of his sculpture was in the Duveen galleries at Tate Britain in 2006.


Drawings & works on paper   

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