Charles Pears RI ROI RSMA (1873-1958) - Early 20th Century Oil Stirling Bridge

Description

An oil and watercolour painting of Stirling Bridge in Scotland by the renowned marine and war artist Charles Pears. Signed to the lower-right edge. Inscribed with the location to the reverse. On wove laid to board.

Condition

There are some surface marks. Some foxing and discolouration.

Size

25.2 x 29.3cm (9.9" x 11.5")
Sheet: 28 x 33.1cm (11" x 13")

Artist Biography

Charles Pears RI ROI RSMA (1873-1958) was a painter and printmaker of marine subject matter who was born in Pontefract, Yorkshire. Pears began his career as an illustrator, caricaturist, and humorous artist, contributing to The Yellow Book and regularly to magazines such as Punch. He also designed posters for the London Underground, London Midland & Scottish Railways, and the Empire Marketing Board, some of which were seen at the 1928 exhibition of the British Society of Poster Designers

During WWI, he was commissioned to produce paintings of naval actions for the Illustrated London News and was soon employed by the Admiralty as an Official War Artist. By the start of WWII, Pears had become one of Britain's most renowned marine artists, and reproductions of his war paintings such as 'Malta Convoy' ensured that his art was familiar to millions. He helped to found and became President of the Society of Marine Artists (later the RSMA), an office he held until his death. Pears settled in St. Mawes, Cornwall and exhibited regularly in both Falmouth and Truro, where his paintings of traditional sailing vessels and of the Cornish coastline were especially popular. Pears also exhibited at the ROI of which he was an elected member, the RA, and STISA, 1945-58, and was a member of the Art Workers' Guild, 1940-1958.

Examples of his work are in the collections of the Falmouth Art Gallery, IWM, National Maritime Museum, NRM, Royal Institution of Cornwall, Tate Gallery, Towner Art Gallery, and the London Transport Museum.