{{Short description|British artist}} {{Use British English|date=January 2014}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2026}} {{Infobox artist | image = Charles Pears in 1948.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = Pears in 1948 | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1873|09|09|df=y}}<ref name=WWW>{{cite web|title=PEARS, Charles|url=http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whowaswho/U241659|work=Who Was Who|publisher=A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2008; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2007|accessdate=5 August 2013}}</ref> | birth_place = Pontefract, Yorkshire | death_date = {{Death date and age|1958|01|28|1873|09|09|df=y}}<ref name=WWW /> | death_place = Truro, Cornwall<ref name=TimesObit>{{cite news|title=Mr. Charles Pears|url=http://find.galegroup.com/ttda/infomark.do?&source=gale&prodId=TTDA&userGroupName=oxford&tabID=T003&docPage=article&searchType=BasicSearchForm&docId=CS169826878&type=multipage&contentSet=LTO&version=1.0|accessdate=5 August 2013|newspaper=The Times|date=30 January 1958|page=10}}</ref> | spouse = | field = Naval and marine art | training = | movement = | works = | patrons = | influenced by = | influenced = | awards = | elected = | website = <!-- {{URL|Example.com}} --> | bgcolour = }} [[File:INF3-34 Battleship in Suez Canal, HMS Howe Artist Charles Pears 1939-1946.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Battleship {{HMS|Howe|32|6}} in Suez Canal by Charles Pears]]
'''Charles Pears''' {{post-nominals|post-noms=RI ROI<ref name=WWW /> RSMA}} (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.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/920519 |title=Charles Pears |work=Olympedia |accessdate=27 July 2020}}</ref>
==Biography== Born in Pontefract, Yorkshire, he studied nearby at East Hardwick and Pomfret College,<ref name=TimesObit/><ref>Benezit, Emmanuel (2012) ''Benezit Dictionary of British Graphic Artists and Illustrators'', p202, Oxford University Press</ref> where he started a lifelong appreciation of Canaletto.<ref name=SmallCraft/> 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'', ''The Graphic'' and ''Salt-Water Poems and Ballads'' by John Masefield.<ref name=TimesObit/>
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.<ref name=TimesObit/> 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, Pears worked also worked as an official War Artist during both the First and Second World Wars.<ref name=TimesObit/> His Second World War poster entitled ''"MV ''San Demetrio'' gets home"'' was issued by the Post Office Savings Bank,<ref name=iwmpears>{{cite web | url = http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/21435 | title = Art.IWM PST 16448 – San Demetrio Gets Home | year = 2012 | work = Imperial War Museum Collections Search | publisher = | accessdate =22 June 2012 }}</ref> with the original artwork presently part of the collection of the National Maritime Museum.
From 1913 to 1936, Pears was a prolific poster artist, working for London Underground.<ref name=LTM>[http://www.ltmcollection.org/posters/artist/artist.html?IXartist=Charles+Pears Artist – Charles Pears] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304051321/http://www.ltmcollection.org/posters/artist/artist.html?IXartist=Charles+Pears |date=4 March 2016 }}, London Transport Museum website. Retrieved 4 September 2012.</ref> He also created posters for the Empire Marketing Board,<ref name=WWW /> the Metropolitan Railway, Southern Railway, London, Midland & Scottish Railway, 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 on 28 January 1958.<ref name=SmallCraft>{{Cite web|url=http://www.smallcraft.net/research/the_sailors/charles_pears/|title = Small Craft: Late 19th & Early 20th Century British Yachting - the Sailors: Charles Pears}}</ref>
Today his artworks are held in the collections of the London Transport Museum,<ref name=LTM /> National Maritime Museum, National Railway Museum,<ref>[http://collectionsonline.nmsi.ac.uk/detail.php?t=people&type=all&f=&s=Pears%2C+Charles&record=0 Collections Online – Pears, Charles] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140113171014/http://collectionsonline.nmsi.ac.uk/detail.php?t=people&type=all&f=&s=Pears%2C+Charles&record=0 |date=13 January 2014 }}, Science Museum Group. Retrieved 4 September 2012.</ref> Imperial War Museum,<ref>Imperial War Museum [http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/search?query=Charles%20Pears&items_per_page=50 Collections Search for "Charles Pears"], ''iwm.org.uk'' Retrieved 8 March 2013.</ref> and Tate.<ref>{{cite web|title=Charles Pears|url=http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/charles-pears-2200|publisher=Tate|accessdate=5 August 2013}}</ref> He is commemorated in a prize at the Royal Society of Marine Artists, the Charles Pears Memorial Award.<ref name=SmallCraft/>
==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 == {{reflist}}
== External links == {{Commons category|Charles Pears}} * {{Art UK bio}} * [http://cornwallartists.org/cornwall-artists/charles-pears Charles Pears entry at the Cornwall Artists Index] * {{LCAuth|n2008047146|Charles Pears|4|ue}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Pears, Charles}} Category:People from Pontefract Category:British marine artists Category:19th-century English painters Category:English male painters Category:20th-century English painters Category:1873 births Category:1958 deaths Category:19th-century English male artists Category:Art competitors at the 1932 Summer Olympics Category:Art competitors at the 1928 Summer Olympics Category:British railway artists Category:20th-century English male artists