135

Helen Maria Turner
(American/Louisiana, 1858-1958)

"Portrait of the Artist Nell Pomeroy O'Brien"

oil on canvas
signed lower right.
Framed.
16" x 12", framed 22-3/4" x 18-3/4"

Notes: Initially exhibiting in 1890 at the Artists' Association of New Orleans, the accomplished artist Helen Maria Turner went on to earn national acclaim by exhibiting at Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Corcoran Gallery, and American Society of Miniature Painters at the National Academy of Design. Turner was the first woman from the south to be elected to full membership in the National Academy of Design, and the third woman nationally. A highlight of her career was inclusion in the "Six American Women" exhibition organized by the St. Louis City Museum; which, in addition to Turner, featured Mary Cassatt, Jane Peterson, Johanna Hailman, Martha Walter and Alice Schille.
At a time when few women achieved success as professional artists, Turner became well acquainted and friends with her female contemporaries. Although she occasionally accepted a commissioned portrait assignment, Turner largely asked her friends and family to be subjects of her paintings. The sitter has been identified as Nell Pomeroy O'Brien (1899-1966), herself a gifted painter and friend of Turner's; she is painted with her brushes in hand and typically pensive glaze favored by Turner. (New Orleans Auction Galleries would like to thank Terry Simoneaux for the identification.)


  • Condition: **Canvas relined; stretcher marks; craquelure; irregular varnish layer; small losses to upper left corner; minor loss lower right corner. Impossible for UV light to penetrate the varnish layer, but inpainting repairs to right edge detected with naked eye. Some slacking to canvas so it should re-stretched.

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July 19, 2020 12:00 PM CDT
New Orleans, LA, US

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