Vase on display as part of the "Jazz Age" exhibit at the Cleveland Museum of Art in Cleveland, Ohio, in the United States.

Daniel Gale Turnbull (1886-1962) was born on Long Island, New York. Nothing is known about his early life. In 1912, he went to Paris, where he studied ceramics, etching, painting, printing, wood carving, watercolor, and other art methods under Jean-Urbain Guérin (French, 1760-1836), Vojtech Preissig (1873–1944), and Charles Lasar (1856-1936). He spent some time on the coast painting with his close friend, the Cleveland painted Abel Warshawsky (1883-1962).

Turnbull returned to the U.S. in 1927. He was appointed art director of Leigh Potters (Alliance, Ohio) in 1929, and then art director of Sebring Pottery (Sebring, Ohio) in 1931. During this period, Turnbull worked in a Cubist style, using geometic shapes and solid colors.

Vernon Kilns in California hired him away in 1936, based on his reputation as an engraver and painter. Turnbull moved away from pure colors and shape to work in more traditional ceramic forms, featuring idealized landscapes placed on flat white dinnerware. He created more than a hundred decorative designs for Vernon Kilns, although most were executed by staff painters. Turnbull retired in 1958.

This ceramic vase, designed in 1929 by Turnbull, is attributed to Sebring Pottery (even though Turnbull was working at Leigh Potters at the time).

1. CMAJazzAge