Turn A Blind Eye Meaning

Example :   The mother turned a blind eye to her son's mischief as she expected him not to repeat it.1880, James Jackson Jarves, "Future American Art," New York Times, 11 Oct., p. 2:  In this my countrymen, without having produced any really very great work, by the old standards, make a respectable show. . . . In saying this, however, we must turn a blind eye to a considerable number of statues of our distinguished citizens which even more lamentably exhibit the defects arising from ignorance of modeling and design.