PastImperfect: the art of Michael TurnerA family visit to the Isle of Man in 1947 and seeing the British Empire Trophy car races there that decided the young Michael Turner's future. Enthralled by the speed and spectacle of motorsport, he knew that somehow he had to be a part of it all.
His mother persuaded him to enter a Boy's Own magazine art competition, where he won a prize. Encouraged by this, more motor races followed and then a letter to the Autocar artist Gordon Horner got a lengthy response advising the young Turner on how to become a motorsport artist.
His first published work was an illustration for the BARC Gazette of their Whit Monday race at Goodwood, for which he received the sum of two guineas. Then followed a two-year spell of national service, after which Turner found short-term employment in a number of London art studios before settling at Astral Arts. There he established his reputation to the extent that in 1956 he decided to go freelance.
It was the owner of Brands Hatch, John Webb, who persuaded Turner to publish his first set of motor racing Christmas cards in 1960. The cards were successful enough to be repeated in 1961. Since then they have become a well established part of the annual motor racing scene under the name of the company Turner formed to produce them, Studio 88.
These cards served to bring his work to a wider audience. At the same time his work had caught the eye of several Grand Prix drivers, including Graham Hill. Turner had produced a painting of Hill's epic drive in the 1960 British Grand Prix at Silverstone when his BRM stalled on the grid, after which, starting last, he stormed through the grid to take the lead only to spin into retirement with five laps to go. Hill was disappointed when John Webb bought the painting before he had a chance to do so, and as a result Webb promised Graham Hill that he would give him the painting if he won the World Championship - a promise he honoured two years later.
As well as developing his reputation in motor racing circles, Turner also became well known in aviation art circles, becoming an early member of the Guild of Aviation Artists.
In 1965 his first one-man exhibition was held in London; since then a number of successful exhibitions have followed together with several books including the 1985 Formula One.
Today, Michael Turner continues to produce superb aviation and motor racing paintings. He has been joined in producing motor racing subjects by his son, Graham, himself also an accomplished motor sport artist.