William Turnbull’s first one-man exhibition was held at the Hanover Gallery, London (1950). He represented Britain in a group exhibition at the Venice Biennale (1952) and has exhibited in many solo and group exhibitions both in Britain and internationally.
In 1973, a retrospective exhibition of his work was held at the Tate Gallery, London, and in 1982 he took part in British Sculpture in the Twentieth century at the Whitechapel Art Gallery, London. He had a retrospective at the Serpentine Gallery, London (1995–96) and a major solo exhibition at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park (2005) and the Duveen Galleries, Tate Britain in 2006. In 2013, Chatsworth House hosted a large exhibition of Turnbull’s paintings, drawings and sculptures.
His work is part of important collections as: Abright-Knox Gallery, Buffalo, New York; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Syndey; Arts Council Collection, London; The Berardo Collection, Sinatra Museum of Modern Art, Lisbon, Portugal; British Council Collection, London; David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago; Franklin D. Murphy Sculpture Garden, UCLA, Los Angeles; The Government Art Collection, London; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.; Hunterian Art Gallery, University of Glasgow; Jesus College, Cambridge; Leeds Museum and Galleries, Leeds; McManus Gallery, Dundeee Museum and Art Gallery; Museum of Contemporary Art, Tehran; Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh; Standford University, Standford, California; Swindon Museum and Art Gallery; Tate Gallery, London; Tel Aviv Museum of Art, New York; University of Lethbridge; Art Gallery, Alberta, Canada; Univeristy of Liverpool Art Collections.
