Copyright - Using and referencing Site Content - read the Copyright page - www.jaturnerart.com
The life and works of the Australian painter James Alfred Turner (1850 – 1908).
Turner recorded in painstaking detail the life and daily pursuits of the small rural settler in the
ranges to the north and north east of Melbourne the capital of the State of Victoria Australia.
At the time this was “battlers country”, life was hard and pleasures simple.
Turner was quite prolific and his style instantly recognisable. Like S.T. Gill who became famous
for his paintings of life on the Victorian Goldfields, Turner seems to have set out to record a
specific facet of Victorian life. He painted mainly rural scenes and recorded faithfully the typical
rural “situations” of the day.
Art contemporaries and critics of the time were not kind. He has been referred to by some as an
illustrator. Photography was alive and well in Turners time, yet no camera could have captured
the spirit of an age and lifestyle like he did. He should be studied and valued for this skill alone.
This was his great unrecognised contribution to Australian art.
Turner died just over 100 years ago and from this distance he needs to be viewed in a new light.
His critical contemporaries, so obsessed by the impressionist “flavour of the day” looked only at
his style as an artist and missed totally what he was trying to achieve. This website is dedicated
to bringing him true recognition for supplying a unique window on Australian pioneering history..
Rutherford James Browne, Coffs Harbour, Australia - April 2009
This website has been designed as a resource to gather and present in one readily accessible
place as much as can be gleaned about this important recorder of Australian Colonial History.
Information and in particular further photographs of Turners paintings are most welcome.
| Home | Biography | Picture Menu | Explore Detail | First Works | Prints | Post Cards | Shop | Contact Us | Copyright Usage |