{{Short description|English painter and illustrator}} {{About|the British artist (1894-1997)|the American artist (1921-2005)|Reginald Gammon (American artist)}} {{Use British English|date=January 2014}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2026}} {{Infobox person | name = Reg Gammon | image = <!-- just the filename, without the File: or Image: prefix or enclosing brackets --> | alt = | caption = | birth_name = Reginald William Gammon | birth_date = {{Birth date|1894|01|09|df=y}} | birth_place = Petersfield, Hampshire, England | death_date = {{death date and age|1997|04|22|1894|01|09|df=y}} | death_place = Bridgwater, Somerset, England | other_names = | occupation = Painter and illustrator }}
'''Reginald William Gammon''' (9 January 1894 – 22 April 1997) was an English painter and illustrator.
==Biography== Gammon was born in Petersfield, Hampshire, on 9 January 1894 and educated at Churcher's College there. His father was a builder.<ref name="Belsey">{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/obituary-reg-gammon-1269136.html|title=Obituary: Reg Gammon|last=Belsey|first=James|date=25 April 1997|work=The Independent|accessdate=19 December 2013}}</ref>
== Career == From 1911, he was apprenticed to the illustrator Frank Patterson, at the latter's Billingshurst, West Sussex studio. He was discharged on medical grounds after enlisting during World War I, but re-enlisted with the Army Service Corps for the final two years of the war. He married Betty Knight (died 1982) in 1917. After the war, they lived in Fernhurst, Sussex, and had two sons.<ref name="Belsey" />
Gammon declined a 1918 offer, made at the instigation of Scottish etcher Muirhead Bone,<ref name="RWA">{{cite web|url=http://www.rwacollection.org.uk/names/gammonn.htm|title=Archive of the Permanent Collection at the Royal West of England Academy in Bristol UK : by name : Reg Gammon|publisher=Royal West of England Academy|accessdate=19 December 2013|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131220021620/http://www.rwacollection.org.uk/names/gammonn.htm|archivedate=20 December 2013|df=dmy-all}}</ref> of a place at the Slade School of Fine Art, but nonetheless had a successful career as a freelance illustrator and writer. For 60 years he wrote and illustrated a feature column for the Cyclists Touring Club's Gazette. The dropping of another column, "In the Open Air", for ''Scout'' magazine, resulted in international protests and it was restored.<ref name="Belsey"/>
In 1930, he began to produce work for the ''News Chronicle''. Travelling by motorcycle, he would attend horseracing at Goodwood or motor racing at Brooklands, make sketches, and ride quickly back to London to deliver them. He also covered the Monte Carlo Rally.<ref name="Belsey"/>
During World War II he moved his family to South Wales, and became a hill farmer, managing {{Convert|40|acre|ha}} in the Llanthony valley near Abergavenny.<ref name="Belsey"/> He stayed there for 20 years, and was instrumental in the introduction of electricity supply and telephone services to Llanthony.<ref name="Belsey" /> He moved to Somerset in 1958 and became a full-time painter.<ref name="RWA"/>
He originally painted in watercolour, but on holiday in his 60s, he began to use oil paint.<ref name="Belsey"/> His work was influenced by Paul Gauguin<ref name="Belsey"/><ref name="RWA"/> and he later worked in the expressionist style.<ref name="Belsey"/> He was elected to the Royal West of England Academy (RWA) in 1966. They held a retrospective of his work in 1985, and in 1986 he held the first of five one-man exhibitions at the New Grafton Gallery in London.<ref name="Belsey"/> A further retrospective was held at the RWA to mark his 100th birthday. He was also a member of the Royal Watercolour Society and the Royal Institute of Oil Painters.<ref name="Belsey"/>
Among the books illustrated by Gammon are a number in the 'Romany' series, by George Bramwell Evens.<ref>See bibliography</ref> Gammon's autobiography, ''One man's furrow'', was published in 1990.<ref name="Gammon">{{Cite book|publisher=Webb & Bower|isbn=9780863503290|last=Gammon|first=Reg|author2=Enid Fairhead|title=One man's furrow: ninety years of country living|year=1990}}</ref>
Gammon died at Bridgwater, Somerset on 22 April 1997, aged 103.<ref name="Belsey"/> The RWA holds a number of his works.<ref name="RWA"/>
==Bibliography== * {{Cite book |publisher= Webb & Bower|isbn= 9780863503290|last= Gammon |first= Reg |author2=Enid Fairhead |title= One man's furrow: ninety years of country living |year= 1990 }}
===Works illustrated=== * {{cite book |last=Baron |first=Stanley R |title= Westward Ho |year=1934 |publisher= Jarrold }} * {{cite book |last=Evens |first=George Bramwell |authorlink=George Bramwell Evens |title=Out with Romany |year=1937 |publisher=University of London Press }} * {{cite book |last=Evens |first=George Bramwell |title= A Romany on the Trail |year=1934 |publisher= Epworth Press }} * {{cite book |last=Evens |first=George Bramwell |title= Out with Romany Again |year=1938 |publisher= University of London Press }} * {{cite book |last=Evens |first=George Bramwell |title= Out with Romany Once More |year=1940 |publisher= University of London Press }} * {{cite book |last=Evens |first=George Bramwell |title= Out with Romany by the Sea |year=1941 |publisher= University of London Press }} * {{cite book |last=Evens |first=George Bramwell |title= Out with Romany by Meadow and Stream |year=1942 |publisher= University of London Press }} * {{cite book |last=Evens |first=George Bramwell |title= Out with Romany by Moor and Dale |year=1944 |publisher= University of London Press }} * {{cite book |last=Evens |first= Glyn K. |title= Muriel & Doris |publisher= University of London Press }} * {{cite book |last=Morgan |first= D. Francis |title= Exploring England |publisher= C. Arthur Pearson Ltd }} * {{cite book |last=Way |first=H. John |title= Italy |year=1956 |publisher= Nicholas Kane }} * {{cite book |last=Way |first=H. John |title= The Low Countries |year=1957 |publisher= Nicholas Kane }} * {{cite book |last=Way |first=H. John |title= Austria |year=1958 |publisher= Nicholas Kane }} * {{cite book |last=Way |first=H. John |title= France |year=1960 |publisher= Nicholas Kane }}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{Art UK bio}} * [http://www.duff-family.info/gammon/pfield04.html Gammon family history genealogy site]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gammon, Reg}} Category:1894 births Category:1997 deaths Category:British Army personnel of World War I Category:20th-century English farmers Category:English watercolourists Category:20th-century English painters Category:English male painters Category:Members of the Royal West of England Academy Category:People educated at Churcher's College Category:People from Abergavenny Category:People from Fernhurst Category:People from Petersfield Category:Artists from Somerset Category:Royal Army Service Corps soldiers Category:English men centenarians Category:20th-century English male artists Category:20th-century English illustrators