Charles Ginner 1878-1952

Charles Ginner was born in Cannes, France. In 1904 he began to study painting. He was ridiculed for his enthusiasm for Van Gogh, who remained the single most important influence on his work. Studied at the Academie Vitti, then at the Ecole des Beaux Arts. Showed with AAA in 1908. Held his first one man show in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1909. In 1908 Ginner sent work to the Allied Artists' Association in London, where he met Harold Gilman and Spencer Gore. When he settled in London in 1910 he became a regular visitor to Sickert's ‘Saturdays' in Fitzroy Street, his interest in Post-Impressionism affiliating him with the Camden Town Group, of which he was a founder-member. He also joined the London Group in 1913 and the Cumberland Market Group in 1914. The catalogue contained Ginner's essay ‘Neo-Realism', from which it would seem that Ginner was anxious to dissociate himself and Gilman from the more academic tendencies inherent in English Post-Impressionism. One characteristic, which became his signature, was the use of a small, regular touch of thick paint, a method that can give his paintings the appearance of densely worked embroidery. During World War I Ginner served as a private in the Ordnance Corps, then as a sergeant with the Intelligence Corps and finally as a lieutenant working for the Canadian War Records. He performed again as an Official War Artist during World War II, specialising in harbour scenes and paintings of bomb-damaged London. He lived in various places, including Hampstead, all of which he painted in a style which, once established, never altered. The Tate Gallery and many other galleries hold his work. Arts Council held a memorial and touring show in 1953-54. Tate Gallery archive.