Charles Pears (9 September 1873 – 28 January 1958) was a British painter, illustrator and artist. His work was part of the art competitions at the 1928 Summer Olympics and the 1932 Summer Olympics.

Biography

Born in

Pontefract Pontefract is a historic market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wakefield in West Yorkshire, England, east of Wakefield and south of Castleford. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is one of the towns in the City of Wak ...

, Yorkshire, he studied nearby at East Hardwick and Pomfret College, where he started a lifelong appreciation of

Canaletto Giovanni Antonio Canal (18 October 1697 – 19 April 1768), commonly known as Canaletto (), was an Italian painter from the Republic of Venice, considered an important member of the 18th-century Venetian school. Painter of city views or ...

. Active from 1890, he worked as an illustrator throughout his career. His early illustrated works were included in periodicals such as '' The Yellow Book'', ''

Punch Punch commonly refers to: * Punch (combat), a strike made using the hand closed into a fist * Punch (drink), a wide assortment of drinks, non-alcoholic or alcoholic, generally containing fruit or fruit juice Punch may also refer to: Places * Pun ...

'', ''

The Graphic ''The Graphic'' was a British weekly illustrated newspaper, first published on 4 December 1869 by William Luson Thomas's company Illustrated Newspapers Ltd. Thomas's brother Lewis Samuel Thomas was a co-founder. The premature death of the latt ...

'' and '' Salt-Water Poems and Ballads'' by

John Masefield John Edward Masefield (; 1 June 1878 – 12 May 1967) was an English poet and writer, and Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, Poet Laureate from 1930 until 1967. Among his best known works are the children's novels ''The Midnight Folk'' and ...

. Pears is best known as a marine painter, where he often signed his work as ''Chas Pears''. Pears was the first elected President of the Royal Society of Marine Artists. His works were exhibited from 1904 to 1939 in London having moved there, and he also wrote a number of books on small boat cruising. A commissioned officer in the Royal Marines during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Pears worked also worked as an official War Artist during both the First and Second World Wars. His Second World War poster entitled ''" MV ''San Demetrio'' gets home"'' was issued by the Post Office Savings Bank, with the original artwork presently part of the collection of the

National Maritime Museum The National Maritime Museum (NMM) is a maritime museum in Greenwich, London. It is part of Royal Museums Greenwich, a network of museums in the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site. Like other publicly funded national museums in the Unite ...

. From 1913 to 1936, Pears was a prolific poster artist, working for

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The ...

.Artist – Charles Pears
London Transport Museum website. Retrieved 4 September 2012. He also created posters for the Empire Marketing Board, the Metropolitan Railway, Southern Railway,

London, Midland & Scottish Railway The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSIt has been argued that the initials LMSR should be used to be consistent with LNER, GWR and SR. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway's corporate image used LMS, and this is what is generally ...

, London & North Eastern Railway and Great Western Railway. He latterly created works for British Railways. Pears moved to Saint Mawes, Cornwall in semi-retirement, and died in

Truro Truro (; kw, Truru) is a cathedral city and civil parish in Cornwall, England. It is Cornwall's county town, sole city and centre for administration, leisure and retail trading. Its population was 18,766 in the 2011 census. People of Truro ...

on 28 January 1958. Today his artworks are held in the collections of the London Transport Museum,

National Railway Museum The National Railway Museum is a museum in York forming part of the Science Museum Group. The museum tells the story of rail transport in Britain and its impact on society. It is the home of the national collection of historically significant ...

, Imperial War Museum, and

Tate Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...

. He is commemorated in a prize at the Royal Society of Marine Artists, the Charles Pears Memorial Award.

Publications

*''Toby and his Little Dog Tan'' (Hodder & Stoughton, 1903) *''From the Thames to the Seine'' (Chatto & Windus, London, 1910) *''From the Thames to the Netherlands: A Voyage in the Waterways of Zealand & Down the Belgian Coast'' (Chatto & Windus, London, 1914) *''South Coast Cruising – from the Thames to Penzance'' (Edward Arnold, London, 1931) *''Yachting on the Sunshine Coast'' (Southern Railway Company, 1932) *''Going Foreign'' (Edward Arnold, London, 1933)

References

External links

*
Charles Pears entry at the Cornwall Artists Index
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pears, Charles People from Pontefract British marine artists 19th-century English painters English male painters 20th-century English painters 1873 births 1958 deaths 19th-century English male artists Olympic competitors in art competitions British railway artists 20th-century English male artists