John Doman Turner Letter to James Bolivar Manson 13 November 1913
John Doman Turner c.1873–1938Letter to James Bolivar Manson 13 November 1913Tate Archive TGA 806/10/6
John Doman Turner c.1873–1938Letter to James Bolivar Manson 13 November 1913Tate Archive TGA 806/10/6
John Doman Turner became involved with the Camden Town Group through his friendship with Spencer Gore, who taught him in a series of thirty letters from 1908 to 1913. Doman Turner was shy and unsure of his abilities, however, and did not attend many of the group’s meetings owing to deafness.
When a new society, soon to be called the London Group, was formed in October 1913, all associates of the Camden Town and Fitzroy Street groups were given immediate membership. In a previous letter Doman Turner was surprised to be included in the new group and unsure about voting for members (TGA 806/10/6). Manson must have persuaded him that he should join the group as in this letter Doman Turner seems more keen. However, in the next letter he resigned, perhaps because of shyness, or because he was completing very little work, or owing to artistic differences with some members (TGA 806/10/6). See also TGA 806/1/927 and TGA 806/1/928.
Transcript
[Handwritten:]
(P.S. Please note
address. – If 63
is left out, letters
may go astray.)
(P.S. Please note
address. – If 63
is left out, letters
may go astray.)
[Letterhead:] “BRACONDALE,”
63 DOWNTON AVENUE,
STREATHAM HILL, S.W.
63 DOWNTON AVENUE,
STREATHAM HILL, S.W.
13.11.13
Dear Mr. Manson,
Many many thanks for your kindness!
I do not know what to do!
Will you kindly let Mr. Gore decide? Please tell him I have done no drawing for months past.
It does not seem right to join the new Society; unless, perhaps, Mr. [end of p.1] Clifton can, with fairness, work off those he bought.
If the expenses are more than the C.T.G. better leave me out.
Mrs. Turner and I went to see the most interesting Exn. at the Dore Galleries and we thoroughly enjoyed it.
Kindly excuse my absence at the meeting next Saty., with very kind regards to everyone who remembers me.
Yours sincerely,
J. Doman Turner
I do not know what to do!
Will you kindly let Mr. Gore decide? Please tell him I have done no drawing for months past.
It does not seem right to join the new Society; unless, perhaps, Mr. [end of p.1] Clifton can, with fairness, work off those he bought.
If the expenses are more than the C.T.G. better leave me out.
Mrs. Turner and I went to see the most interesting Exn. at the Dore Galleries and we thoroughly enjoyed it.
Kindly excuse my absence at the meeting next Saty., with very kind regards to everyone who remembers me.
Yours sincerely,
J. Doman Turner
J.B. Manson Esq.
How to cite
John Doman Turner, Letter to James Bolivar Manson, 13 November 1913, in Helena Bonett, Ysanne Holt, Jennifer Mundy (eds.), The Camden Town Group in Context, Tate Research Publication, May 2012, https://www