New Worlds, Words, Signs includes sculpture, painting and works on paper Turnbull created from the late 1940s-60s. The show, has works for sale and on loan and explores the visual themes Turnbull employed throughout his career such as the human head and totemic female figures.
A number of pieces have sold since the show opened in September such as Head (Reclining Head) (1955), Walking Figure (1953) and Untitled (1959).
Scottish-born Turnbull enrolled in the Slade School in London after the Second World War, switching from painting to sculpture during his studies. He worked in plaster, bronze, wood and other materials and he had an abiding interest in surface and randomness.
The earliest work at Offer Waterman is Hanging Sculpture (1949) which Turnbull made three years after leaving the Slade. Its linear form reflects his encounters with the work of Alberto Giacometti and Alexander Calder. His later works are more “full-figured” but also abstracted.
The exhibition continues until November 3.
