MUTED By SLIGHTS REAL OR IMAGINARY, NURTURING OTHERWISE FORGOTTEN HURTS, AN ARTIST'S REPUTATION CAN LANGUISH. SUCH IS STILL, OCCASIONALLY, THE CIRCUMSTANCE OF THE PROFICIENT PROVINCIAL and INDEED 50 YEARS HAVE PASSED SINCE BELFAST-BORN (1916), SLADE-TRAINED, JOHN TURNER HAS HAD A SOLO EXHIBITION. THUS THIS CURRENT HANGING - THIS RETROSPECTIVE, IF YOU WILL - IS OBVIOUSLY A PROPOSAL BY ITS CURATOR THAT HIS IS A TALENT TOO LONG CRITICALLY NEGLECTED.
INDEED, A SEARCH THROUGH BIBLIOGRAPHIC MATERIAL IS MORE LIKELY TO UNEARTH CRITICAL REFERENCES TO ANOTHER TURNER J. (1745-1790). OUR TURNER J., WHO ON THE EVIDENCE OF THIS SOMERS GALLERY HANGING IS DUE FOR A REVIVAL OF SPECULATIVE INTEREST, HAS BEEN A TEACHER AND A FINE DRAUGHTSMAN IN THE SLADE'S ACADEMIC TRADITION OF THE DAY. HE IS ALSO AN ACCOMPLISHED PAINTER WHO DISPLAYED, OVER THE YEARS, A PERCEPTIVE APPROPRIATION OF INFLUENCES AS DIVERSE AS THOSE OF JOHN LUKE, STANLEY SPENCER, AUGUSTUS JOHN, WILLIAM CONOR, HENRY MOORE, PLUS POINTILLISM, SYMBOLISM, ABSTRACTIONISM AND CUBISM.
THOUGH THE RECENT FORMULAIC LANDSCAPES AND MEN'S MAGAZINEISH FEMALE FIGURE STUDIES ARE UNDISTINGUISHED, THE DARK NARRATIVE WORKS OF THE LATE 1940S AND EARLY 1950S, AS RICH IN SYMBOLISM AS VICTORIAN STATUARY, ARE REWARD AND JUSTIFICATION ENOUGH FOR A CAREER MORE DEVOTED TO TEACHING THAN EXHIBITING.
RUNS UNTIL SEPTEMBER 13TH.