1000 Museums

Helen Maria Turner was a Kentucky-born, Louisiana raised American painter who specialized in portraits, landscapes, still lifes, and miniatures. Her media and technique varied throughout her life. Her work began in realism, working with pastels and watercolors, then moved to impressionism and working with oil paints by 1910. Turner started painting at twenty-two years old, working on portraits and bayou landscapes. Her formal education began at Tulane University in New Orleans from 1886 to 1893 and studying with the Artists\’ Association of New Orleans. After teaching art for two years, she moved to New York City to look at the Art Students League, Cooper Union, and Columbia University. In 1906 she summered at the artist\’s colony in Cragsmoor, New York. This experience influenced her work immensely, and she continued working here until 1941. Her work exhibited widely, and she has won many awards throughout her career. Turner\’s style is described as impressionistic and frequently depicts women in musical pursuits and domestic or garden settings.