Pamela Ascherson, later Pamela Rachet (3 March 1923 – 22 June 2010) was a British sculptor, painter and illustrator.

Biography

Ascherson was born in London and attended Roedean School in Brighton. In 1939 she took painting lessons from Laura Knight and in 1940 she enrolled at the Farnham School of Art where she studied sculpture and pottery making under

Charles Vyse Charles Vyse (1882 Staffordshire - 1971 Deal, Kent), was an English studio potter, noted for producing colourful figurines of characters seen on London streets. Charles was part of a Staffordshire family that had traditionally been involved in t ...

. In 1941, Ascherson won a scholarship to the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design university in the United Kingdom. It offe ...

but deferred her entrance to enlist in the

Women's Royal Naval Service The Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS; popularly and officially known as the Wrens) was the women's branch of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy. First formed in 1917 for the First World War, it was disbanded in 1919, then revived in 1939 at the ...

. She served in the WRNS from 1943 to 1945. She is listed on the

Bletchley Park Bletchley Park is an English country house and estate in Bletchley, Milton Keynes ( Buckinghamshire) that became the principal centre of Allied code-breaking during the Second World War. The mansion was constructed during the years following ...

Roll of Honour as having been a bombe operator at an out-station in

Stanmore Stanmore is part of the London Borough of Harrow in London. It is centred northwest of Charing Cross, lies on the outskirts of the London urban area and includes Stanmore Hill, one of the highest points of London, at high. The district, which ...

. Ascherson eventually entered the Royal College of Art in 1945 and studied there for two years. By that time she had already had paintings accepted for display by the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...

during the war and the Contemporary Art Society had acquired a terracotta work by her. In 1947 she married and moved to

Provence Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bor ...

in France and in 1948, as Pamela Rachet, wrote and illustrated a book, ''C'etait Heir - St Remy du Provence'', on the region. Her first solo exhibition was held at the Berkeley Gallery in 1953. A series of paintings on racing cars made by Ascherson in the 1960s were acquired by the

Donington Park Donington Park is a motorsport circuit located near Castle Donington in Leicestershire, England. The circuit business is now owned by Jonathan Palmer's MotorSport Vision organisation, and the surrounding Donington Park Estate, still owned b ...

Racing Museum. Duncan Campbell Contemporary Art held exhibitions of Ascherson's sculpture in 1993 and 1998. Her younger half-brother is the journalist Neal Ascherson.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ascherson, Pamela 1923 births 2010 deaths 20th-century British painters 20th-century English women artists Alumni of the Royal College of Art Alumni of the University for the Creative Arts Artists from London English women painters English women sculptors Bletchley Park people People educated at Roedean School, East Sussex Bletchley Park women Women's Royal Naval Service ratings Women's Royal Naval Service personnel of World War II