Ted Turner's son says his Western art collection reflects the media mogul's passion for 'big'

BILLINGS, Mont. -- Ted Turner didn't do small.

Whether racing sailboats, building CNN into a global news organization or buying up ranches across the U.S. West to become one of the largest landowners in the nation, the media mogul turned conservationist had a passion for big, his son, Teddy Turner, said in an interview.

And so it was with the art lining the log walls of Turner's sprawling Flying D Ranch in south central Montana: Paintings by American masters Thomas Moran and Albert Bierstadt capture the grandeur and beauty of the early Western landscape when it was still largely untouched by European settlers.

Over Turner's imposing stone fireplace was a painting of Yosemite Valley. Elsewhere in his home were images of the Grand Canyon, Oregon's Mount Jefferson and a Bierstadt work titled “Buffalo at Sunset,” depicting a group of bison near a pool of water that reflects a glaring sun.

Turner died in May and a collection of the paintings from his Montana ranch are due to be auctioned on Jan. 20 by Christie's in New York. The proceeds will go to the Turner Foundation to further its work preserving natural habitats across large landscapes and helping restore species like the bison that graze on the 178-square-mile (460-square-kilometer) Montana ranch.

What Turner saw in the pieces being auctioned, his son said, was perfection — versions of a bygone West not yet marred by human industry. Turner had similar aspirations for his ranch, where he sought to turn back the clock to an era when bison roamed freely and in immense herds that were hounded by packs of wild wolves.

Turner’s son described him as a person of action — not one to “just sit around staring at his paintings.”

“He loved a professional and if he didn't deem you an expert, he had no time for you,” Teddy Turner said. “Everything that he wanted to surround himself with was perfection. And he saw perfection in these paintings.”

Ted Turner was born in Cincinnati and made his fortune in cities including Atlanta, where he founded CNN. But the West captivated him, and in the 1980s, Turner started buying up properties in Montana and elsewhere, Teddy Turner said. He restored the sites including with bison herds that now number some 45,000 across his properties, according to Ted Turner Enterprises, which manages his holdings.

Teddy Turner said he would have liked to continue looking at the art for the rest of his life “but that was not his plan.”

“They were always in the great rooms, in the center of our lives for so long,” Teddy Turner said. “So they will definitely be sorely missed. It's hard to replace a Bierstadt over the mantel. I think maybe some Pulp Fiction posters? Probably not going to get it done.”