Stanley Turner was born in Aylesbury, England, in 1883, and studied at the South Kensington School of Art in London, England. He immigrated to Canada and farmed near Yorkton, Saskatchewan, while continuing to make sketches. In 1911 he moved to Toronto and joined the advertising department of T. Eaton Company and in 1913 won first prize for the Eaton Jubliee Cover competition. In 1918 he joined the design and advertising firm of Rous and Mann Press Ltd., and worked under Franklin Carmichael. He received an Eaton scholarship to attend the Ontario College of Art in Toronto where he studied with George Reid and J.W. Beatty.
Turner is perhaps best known for his expertly wrought etchings of Toronto and Quebec City street scenes that depict the respective city's distinctive architecture and monuments, as well as for colour woodcuts that exhibit the influence Japanese art had on the artist. Turner is also celebrated for his illustrations in Canadian historical novels and magazines,including McLean's.
The silkscreen of 'Parliament Buildings, Ottawa' was a proud moment for Turner. A sense of Canadian pride was creeping into a national identity, and he recognized this in an illustrative narrative. It was different than most in the series, not typical to idealize a country not yet a century old. The hints of car and truck rooftops speeding over a modern bridge, and the tugboat working were symbols of a country on the move. Even the sky seems to be bending to the will of the buildings thrust toward it. His sense of Canadian pride would have been a subtle reminder as to what the men overseas, and everyone back home, caught up in the war effort were fighting for, without becoming heavy handed.
In 1930 Turner was elected an Associate of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. He was twice commissioned by The Globe and Mail during World War II to prepare illustrated war maps. His paintings can be found in many national museums including Art Gallery of Hamilton, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, The Canadian War Museum, The Glenbow Museum, Calgary, Hart House, Toronto, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA, McCord Museum of Canadian History, Montreal, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, New Brunswick Museum, St. John, NB, Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England.
