The Garden of Eden Huge British Surrealist Oil Painting Reclining Nudes

The Garden of Eden by Richard Turner, British 1940-2013 signed and dated verso, 2003 oil painting on canvas, 48 x 36 inches A stylised surrealist landscape with two reclining nudes, and a seated woman and child. Signed, titled and dated 2003 verso. Painted on this huge size, the work makes a tremendous statement within an interior setting. Richard Turner’s work is mainly figurative painting, within Arcadian landscape settings similar to the compositions in renaissance and mannerist art. Turneramon’s first stay in Egypt had a significant effect on his painting style and content. His change from hard edge abstraction to synthetic renaissance is evident in his 5ft x 7ft painting; ‘The Resurrection of Tutankhamen’, leading to his work being labelled post modernist. Turner won the J. Andrew Lloyd scholarship for Landscape, enabling him to study at the Royal College of Art in London, from 1963. There, he was tutored by Carol Weight and Sir Peter Blake. He graduated in 1966 with an Associate of the Royal College of Art Degree, as well as prizes in Life Drawing, Life Painting, and Landscape Painting. For the next two years, Turner was a lecturer at the Guildford School of Art; working on environmental installation projects with Australian artist Tony Underhill. He was introduced to etching by Peter Olley and Norman Ackroyd. In 1968, he was employed as an epigraphic artist and photographer by the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. For five years, he was based at Chicago House in Luxor, Egypt; making facsimile drawings of the reliefs on the walls of the Temple of Khonsu, Karnak and Medenet Habu, adjacent to the Valley of the Queens. In 1973, Turner returned to England, lecturing at Salisbury College of Art for three years, before being re-employed in Egypt by the University of Chicago, for a further four years. During this time he made full scale tracings of all columns in hypostyle hall of Luxor Temple.[2][3] In 1980 he moved to the USA; built a split-level chalet style house in Big Bear, California, and ran his own gallery, named Minnelusa Gallery, on the shores of Big Bear Lake. He also worked as a graphic designer with Treasure Chest Advertising, based in Los Angeles. Four years later, Turner returned to the United Kingdom, and briefly lived in Edinburgh, before moving south, to become a teacher at Vandyke Upper School in Leighton Buzzard, for five years. He returned to Scotland in 1989, and ran an “art holiday” home business from Park House in Kirkcudbright, as well as lecturing part-time in various colleges and schools. In 1993, Turner met Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, at the opening of Tolbooth Art Centre in Kirkcudbright. Prince Philip commented on Turneramon’s work saying it looked “refreshingly different”. EXHIBITIONS: Group shows 1962 “Artists of Promise”, Midland Group Gallery, Nottingham, UK 1963 “Artists working in London”, Imperial College, London, UK 1964 “R.C.A. Artists University College”, London, UK 1965 “Young Contemporaries”, London, UK 1965 Arts Council Travelling Exhibition 1966 “Young Contemporaries”, London, UK 1966 Arts Council Travelling Exhibition 1967 “Summer Exhibition”, Piccadilly Gallery, London, UK 1967 “Staff of Guilford School of Art”, Battersea College of Technology 1968 “Four Painters”, Reid Gallery, Guildford, UK 1968 Bradford Biennale 1968 Ashbarn Gallery, Stroud 1970 L’atelier Du Caire, Cairo 1975 “Fresh Fields and Pastures New”, Young Gallery, Salisbury 1976 Saint Edmond’s Art Centre, Salisbury 1977 Annely Juda Fine Art 1980 Files Gallery, Big Bear,CA. USA 1981 Bear Valley Artists’ Gallery, Big Bear, CA. USA 1981 Calico Art’s Fair, Calico Ghost Town, CA. USA 1982 Edward Dean Museum, Cherry Valley, CA. USA 1982 Patrick’s Gallery, San Francisco, CA. USA 1982 Files Gallery, Big Bear, CA. U.S.A 1982 Shambles Gallery, Lake Havasu, AR. USA 1982 Battenberg Gallery, Big Bear,CA. USA 1983 Lake Arrowhead Country Club, CA. USA 1983 San Bernardino Country Museum, CA. USA 1984 Minnilusa Gallery, CA. USA 1986 Bedford College Touring Exhibition to Greece and Mediterranean 1995 High Street Gallery, Kirkcudbright, Scotland 2002 Beaumont Hall Studios, Buckinghamshire, UK 2002 Van Wedenburgh, Beverly Hills, USA (Exhibition still in place) 2004 “Skin Two” Barbican Centre London, UK 2006 War Rooms, Whitehall, London, UK Solo shows 1967 Totem One Gallery, Manchester, UK 1970 L’Atelier Du Caire, Cairo, Egypt 1971 Safar Khan Gallery, Zamelek, Cairo, Egypt 1972 Gallery Tabac, Paris, France 1972 Safar Khan Gallery, Zamelek, Cairo, Egypt 1973 Safar Khan Gallery, Zamelek, Cairo, Egypt 1974 Derby Art Gallery, Derbyshire, UK 1974 Saint Edmond’s Art Centre, Salisbury, UK 1975 International Art Centre, London, UK 1975 Pentagon Gallery, Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire, UK 1976 Banbury College of Art, Banbury, UK 1976 International Art Centre, London, UK 1976 Saint Edmond’s Art Centre, Salisbury, UK 1977 Safar Khan Gallery, Zamalek, Cairo, Egypt 1977 “Oriental Ladies in Classical Landscapes”, St. Edmunds Art Centre, Salisbury, UK 1978 Etap Hotel, Luxor, Egypt 1978 Gallery El Nil, Cairo, Egypt 1979 Gallery El Nil, Cairo, Egypt 1980 359 Gallery, Nottingham, UK 1980 Donington Manor, Leicestershire, UK 1981 Patricks Gallery, San Francisco, CA. USA 1981 Lake Arrowhead Country Club, San Bernardino, California, USA 1982 Minnilusa Gallery, CA. USA 1983 San Bernardino Country Museuem, CA. USA 1983 The Ebell of Los Angeles, USA 1983 The Nelson Rockefeller Collection, Palm Springs, CA. USA 1984 The Ebell of Los Angeles, USA 1984 San Bernardino County Museum, San Bernardino, California, USA 1993 Tolbooth Art Centre, Kirkcudbright, Scotland (opened by H.R.H. The Queen)