Post War & Contemporary Ceramics 
19 February 2025
Post War & Contemporary Ceramics 
207

Robert Turner 1913–2005

Ashanti

1982
glazed and reduction-fired stoneware 13½ h × 11½ dia in (34 × 29 cm)
estimate: $2,000–3,000
result: $3,810
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Incised signature to underside ‘Turner’.
provenance: Garth Clark Gallery, New York | Acquired from the previous in 2001, Private Collection, New York | Rago, Studio Ceramics, 21 September 2019, Lot 512 | Private Collection
literature: Robert Turner: Shaping Silence, A Life in Clay, Miro and Hepburn, pg. 33 illustrates similar example

This work will ship from Lambertville, New Jersey.

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The Ashanti and Ife pot series are about time, place, and resolution. They share internal movement, scars, accumulations, chance, and improbable or awkward, but inevitable possibilities. Together, they confirm a presence and a physical reality.

Robert Turner

Robert Turner 1913–2005

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Robert Turner was born in New York, trained at Swarthmore College and Alfred University, and is considered to be one of the pioneering forces of abstract expressionism in clay. He was a friend and inspiration to Peter Voulkos as well as one of the most important studio pottery instructors of the late 20th century, and he taught at Alfred University for 21 years before retiring as Professor Emeritus of Ceramic Art in 1979. His many accolades include the American Craft Council Gold medal and the Member of Honor of the International Academy of Ceramics.

Auction Results Robert Turner

Robert Turner

Ceremonial tureen

estimate: $3,000–4,000

result: $15,000

Robert Turner

Ashanti lidded vessel, gunmetal and verdigris glaze

estimate: $4,000–6,000

result: $9,375

Robert Turner

Akan vessel from the III series

estimate: $4,000–5,000

result: $8,750

Robert Turner

Ashanti lidded vessel

estimate: $4,500–6,500

result: $8,750

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