Biography

Helen Monro Turner was a hugely influential glass-engraver and illustrator who was born in Calcutta and raised in Edinburgh. Monro Turner studied wood-engraving at Edinburgh College of Art and in 1938 she was awarded the Andrew Grant fellowship which enabled her to study glass-engraving with Professor Wilhelm von Eiff at the School of Applied Arts in Stuttgart. Returning to Scotland, Monro Turner established the Department of Glass Design at Edinburgh College of Art in 1943. The department was regarded as one of the best equipped and influential departments in this field in the UK, with Monro Turner highly regarded as one of the most significant figures in British 20th century glass.