PEMBERTON, Christopher Henry

1923 - 2010

Christopher Henry Pemberton was born at Chelsea, London on 14 March 1923, twin son of Richard Oliver Walpole Pemberton (18 August 1885-15 March 1960), who had begun as a clerk in the House of Lords and the Treasury and was latterly Schools Inspector for Suffolk, and his artist wife Daphne Joan Trevor (31 December 1889-15 February 1976), only daughter of William Trevor of Lathbury Park, who married at Lathbury, Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire on 28 February 1922 and in 1939 were living at Bantons Terrace, Bildeston, Suffolk where young Christopher came to know the Suffolk landscape. Christopher was gifted academically and a King's Scholar at Eton College where he began painting under Robin Darwin (1910-1974), later principal of the Royal College of Art and, encouraged by his mother, showed a talent for drawing, creating acute caricatures of his family and painted a grand and compelling mural in the drawing school of the meeting of Solomon and Sheba. During the Second World War he served in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve 1942-1946, on Atlantic convoys, after which in 1948, he graduated in modern history from Christ Church, Oxford. He then decided to become a professional artist and studied at Camberwell School of Arts & Crafts 1948-1949 under Victor Pasmore (1908-1998). After Camberwell, Pemberton became art master at Bryanston School, Dorset 1950-1951 before returning to London to part-time teaching and to progress his painting. In 1948 he had a solo show of portraits in Kyrenia and in 1954 he visited Cyprus for some months. He married on 22 December 1956, Hester Buchanan-Riddell (27 August 1927-3 November 2001). In 1957 he was art master at Shrewsbury School and his final teaching move was back to Camberwell, where he taught on foundation and degree courses for some 27 years until his retirement as head of foundation studies in 1984. He then settled at Place Farmhouse, Bardwell, Suffolk and from the early 1970s, annually visited the family's holiday home in Normandy. A painter of landscapes, portraits and still life but his landscapes of Suffolk and Normandy were among his finest pictures and throughout his career he participated in mixed exhibitions, including at the Royal Academy 1956-1961; John Moores Exhibition, Liverpool 1957; Hayward Gallery 1982 and Gainsborough's House Gallery, Sudbury from 1984 with a string of solo exhibitions in London and the provinces including Chappel Galleries, Essex in 2001. Christopher Henry Pemberton died at Lordington Park, West Sussex on 1 December 2010, leaving four sons including Alexander who was also a professional painter, and a daughter Isobel.

Royal Academy Exhibits
from Gyland, Canonbury, Shrewsbury
1956 120 Sophie and Helen Brooke
from 20 Sheffield Terrace, London W8
1957 97 A Cypriot Couple
from 7 Eastwood Road, London SE3
1959 47 View with Cedar
1961 5 Mrs Olland
         343 Pond in Winter
         610 Eva, Lady Buxton
1962 57 The Hon. Mrs Peter Vanneck
1964 203 Francis Cubitt
         286 View at Fermanville
1965 19 View: Tot de Bas
1966 819 View from Tot-le-Bas
         836 Road to Inthéville
1967 478 Still Life with Skull

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Works by This Artist