Pegaret Anthony née Keeling (1 November 1915 – 25 May 2000) was an English artist and lecturer in Historical Costume and Theatre History, best known for her

watercolour Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to t ...

paintings of war workers during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Early years

Pegaret Keeling was born on 1 November 1915 in Totnes,

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

, the daughter of Jessie ( ''née'' Howes) and Guy William Keeling. Her maternal grandfather was the

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literature ...

artist Thomas Howes. She was educated at The King Alfred School in

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from Watling Street, the A5 road (Roman Watling Street) to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the Lon ...

, and

King's College of Household and Social Science Queen Elizabeth College (QEC) was a college in London. It had its origins in the Ladies' (later Women's) Department of King's College, London, England, opened in 1885 but later accepted men as well. The first King's 'extension' lectures for l ...

at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

. As an 18-year-old student she travelled alone to

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

in Canada, arriving back in London on 26 August 1934. From 1934 to 1938 she was a student at the Central School of Art and Design, where she studied under Jeanetta Cochrane, a theatre practitioner specialising in costume and

scenic design Scenic design (also known as scenography, stage design, or set design) is the creation of theatrical, as well as film or television scenery. Scenic designers come from a variety of artistic backgrounds, but in recent years, are mostly trained ...

. In her final year there she was a holder of the William Atkinson Scholarship for theatrical design.

Career

During the 1930s Anthony was involved in costume, theatre and fashion-related activities, which included a fashion show at Grosvenor House in 1937, the dresses from which were subsequently used in early television broadcasts from

Alexandra Palace Alexandra Palace is a Grade II listed entertainment and sports venue in London, situated between Wood Green and Muswell Hill in the London Borough of Haringey. It is built on the site of Tottenham Wood and the later Tottenham Wood Farm. Origi ...

. She was in charge of the décor and scene painting for a production of

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...

's '' Saint Joan'' in 1938, and was the chief designer for the Birmingham Centenary Pageant in 1938, which had 5000 performers. Also in 1938 Anthony painted the scenery for a production of '' The Scarlet Pimpernel'' at the Embassy Theatre, and was wardrobe mistress for the

pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment. It was developed in England and is performed throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland and (to a lesser extent) in other English-speaking ...

'' Babes in the Wood'' at the Unity Theatre in 1939. After completing the course at the Central School of Art, she was asked to return to teach and remained at the college for almost forty years, teaching classes on the history of dress. She would take students to the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

and the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

where they could study historic costumes first hand. Her teaching aids included an extensive slide collection as well as reproductions of paintings and drawings and brass rubbings. Following her work at the Central School she lectured at the Motley School of Theatre Design for a further twenty years. Anthony was also a

caricature A caricature is a rendered image showing the features of its subject in a simplified or exaggerated way through sketching, pencil strokes, or other artistic drawings (compare to: cartoon). Caricatures can be either insulting or complimentary, a ...

artist, but is most noted for her wartime pictures during the Second World War when she painted about 100 watercolours of men and women engaged in war work. During the Second World War she submitted some of her work to the

War Artists Advisory Committee The War Artists Advisory Committee (WAAC), was a British government agency established within the Ministry of Information at the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 and headed by Sir Kenneth Clark. Its aim was to compile a comprehensive artis ...

and two of her watercolour paintings from 1943 were acquired by the

Imperial War Museum Imperial War Museums (IWM) is a British national museum organisation with branches at five locations in England, three of which are in London. Founded as the Imperial War Museum in 1917, the museum was intended to record the civil and military ...

. In the 1960s she worked for the American film producer

Samuel Bronston Samuel Bronston (March 26, 1908 – January 12, 1994) was a Bessarabian-born American film producer, film director, and a nephew of socialist revolutionary figure, Leon Trotsky. He was also the petitioner in a U.S. Supreme Court case that set a ...

to research historical costumes for several feature films, including ''

55 Days at Peking ''55 Days at Peking'' is a 1963 American epic historical war film dramatizing the siege of the foreign legations' compounds in Peking (now known as Beijing) during the Boxer Rebellion, which took place in China from 1899 to 1901. It was produc ...

'' (1963), and ''

The Fall of the Roman Empire The fall of the Western Roman Empire (also called the fall of the Roman Empire or the fall of Rome) was the loss of central political control in the Western Roman Empire, a process in which the Empire failed to enforce its rule, and its vas ...

'' (1964). In 1944 she married John Victor Caldecott Anthony (1912–2001), a chartered surveyor with the Inland Revenue and a great-nephew of the artist Randolph Caldecott. They had a son, Keeling Anthony (1946-2006).Pegaret Anthony Genealogy
/ref> Pegaret Anthony died on 25 May 2000 aged 84, and was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium on 30 May 2000.

Legacy

During her career Anthony collected a large archive of material on historical costume. This became the basis of her 1974 work ''Costume: A General Bibliography'', a book she wrote with Janet Arnold which was published by the Costume Society. After her death in 2000, an extensive collection of her work was purchased for the CSM Museum Collection In 2002 the Imperial War Museum purchased fourteen works by Anthony, mostly depicting uniform production in wartime clothing factories.

Publications

*''Costume: A General Bibliography, with Janet Arnold,'' Victoria and Albert Museum and the Costume Society (1974)

References

External links

Pegaret Anthony on Sim Fine Art

Pegaret Anthony's Work - Imperial War Museum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anthony, Pegaret 1915 births 2000 deaths 20th-century English painters 20th-century English women artists Academics of the Central School of Art and Design Alumni of the Central School of Art and Design English women painters People educated at King Alfred School, London People from Totnes