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Charles Isaac GinnerCBEARA(4 March 1878 – 6 January 1952)[1]was a British painter of landscape and urban subjects. Born in the south of France atCannes,of British parents, in 1910 he settled in London, where he was an associate ofSpencer GoreandHarold Gilmanand a key member of theCamden Town Group.
Charles Isaac Ginner | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 4 March 1878 Cannes,France |
| Died | 6 January 1952(aged 73) |
| Known for | Painting |
Early years and studies
editCharles Isaac Ginner was born on 4 March 1878 in Cannes, the second son of Isaac Benjamin Ginner, a British medical doctor. He had a younger sister,Ruby(b. 1886; who became the dance teacher Ruby Dyer). He was educated in Cannes at theInstitut Stanislas (Cannes).
At an early age, Ginner formed the intention of becoming a painter, but his parents disapproved. When he was sixteen, he suffered fromtyphoidand double pneumonia and travelled in a tramp steamer around the south Atlantic and the Mediterranean to convalesce; on returning to Cannes, he worked in an engineer's office, and in 1899, at the age of 21, moved to Paris to study architecture.
In 1904, his parents withdrew their opposition to his becoming a painter, and Ginner entered theAcademie Vitti,whereHenri Martinwas teaching but where Ginner worked mostly underPaul Gervais,who disapproved of Ginner's use of bright colours. In 1905, Ginner moved to theEcole des Beaux Arts,but in 1906, after Gervais had left, he returned to Vitti's, where his principal teacher wasHermenegildo Anglada Camarasa,who disapproved of Ginner's admiration forVincent van Gogh.
Painting career
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In 1908, Ginner left Vitti's and worked on his own in Paris, takingVincent van Gogh,Paul Gauguin,andPaul Cézannefor his guides.[clarification needed]
In 1909, Ginner visitedBuenos Aires,Argentina, where he held his first one-person show, which helped to introduce post-Impressionism to South America. His oil paintings showed the influence of Van Gogh, with their heavy impasto paint.
In 1910, Ginner went to London, to serve on the Hanging Committee of theAllied Artists Association's third exhibition.Harold GilmanandSpencer Gorebecame his friends and persuaded him to settle in London. He lived at first in Battersea, but afterwards in Camden Town, where he was a neighbour of Gilman and Gore and regularly attended the Saturday afternoons at 19 Fitzroy Street, meetingRobert Bevan,John Nash,Albert Rothenstein,C. R. W. Nevinson,Jacob Epstein,Walter Bayes,Walter Sickert,andLucien Pissarro.In 1911, he became a member of theCamden Town Group;in 1913 of theLondon Group;in 1914 of theCumberland Market Group.[2]In 1914 in theNew Agehe spelt out the artistic creed known asNew Realism.In the same year he showed jointly with Gilman at theGoupil Gallery.
DuringWorld War I,in about 1916, Ginner was called up, serving firstly in theRoyal Army Ordnance Corps,secondly in the Intelligence Corps, and lastly for the Canadian War Records, for which he made a painting of a powder-filling factory in Hereford.
In 1919, on Gilman's death, he published an appreciation of the artist inArt and Letters.In 1920 he became a member of theNew English Art Club.
DuringWorld War IIhe was again an Official War Artist, and specialised in painting harbour scenes and bombed buildings in London. In 1942 he became anAssociate of the Royal Academy,where he advocated the admission of younger artists.
In 1950, he was awarded aCBE.
Ginner painted buildings in an urban context, as in his paintingPlymouth Pier from The Hoe.His watercolours are unmistakable, with meticulous detailing of trees and buildings.
TheTateGallery in London and many other galleries hold his work. TheNational Portrait Gallery,London, has a typically precise self-portrait.
He died in London on 6 January 1952. TheArts Council of Great Britainheld a touring memorial in 1953-4.
Notes and references
edit- ^Baron, Wendy."Ginner, (Isaac) Charles (1878–1952), painter".Oxford Dictionary of National Biography(online ed.). Oxford University Press.doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/33410.Retrieved25 April2020.(Subscription orUK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^"Cumberland Market Group",Grove Art Online(subscription). Retrieved 20 September 2008.
Bibliography
edit- Helena Bonett, 'Charles Ginner 1878–1952', artist biography, January 2011, in Helena Bonett, Ysanne Holt, Jennifer Mundy (eds.),The Camden Town Group in Context,Tate, May 2012,http:// tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/camden-town-group/charles-ginner-r1105346
- Robert Upstone,Modern Painters: The Camden Town Group,exhibition catalogue,Tate Britain,London, 2008ISBN1-85437-781-7
- J. Rothenstein, 'Charles Ginner 1878–1952', in J. Rothenstein,Modern English Painters Sickert To Smith(1952), p. 188–193.