Phyllis Ethel Ginger (19 October 1907 – 3 May 2005) was a British artist and illustrator who, although she had a long career in several different media, is now best known for the topographical watercolours she produced during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

for the

Recording Britain The Pilgrim Trust is a national charitable trust, grant-making trust in the United Kingdom. It is based in London and is a Charitable organization, registered charity under English law. It was founded in 1930 with a two million pound grant by Edwa ...

project. Ginger was also a prolific book illustrator and designer of graphic advertisements and book covers.

Biography

Ginger was born in

New Malden New Malden is an area in South West London, England. It is located mainly within the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames and the London Borough of Merton, and is from Charing Cross. Neighbouring localities include Kingston, Norbiton, Rayne ...

, Surrey, and attended the

Tiffin Girls' School ("Dare to be Wise") , established = , closed = , type = Grammar Academy , religious_affiliation = , president = , head_label = Headteacher , head = Ian Keary , r_head_label = , r_head = , c ...

Kingston upon Thames Kingston upon Thames (hyphenated until 1965, colloquially known as Kingston) is a town in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, southwest London, England. It is situated on the River Thames and southwest of Charing Cross. It is notable a ...

, where she showed some aptitude for art and attended evening classes at

Kingston School of Art The Kingston School of Art (KSA) is an art school in Kingston upon Thames, part of Kingston University London. It was first established in 1899 as the Kingston School of Science and Art. In 1930 it was established as a separate school and has b ...

. Although her father, who worked for the Post Office, was an amateur artist her parents persuaded Ginger of the need for a more conventional career and she spent some years working as a junior civil servant. In 1932, Ginger enrolled at the Richmond School of Art and then began taking evening classes at the

Central School of Art and Design The Central School of Art and Design was a public school of fine and applied arts in London, England. It offered foundation and degree level courses. It was established in 1896 by the London County Council as the Central School of Arts and Cra ...

. Aged 30, she won a scholarship which allowed her to attend the Central School on a full-time basis until 1939. In 1938 she exhibited at the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its purp ...

for the first time and in 1939 joined the Senefelder Club and also the Allied International Artists group, with which she showed twice. Her work began to attract international attention. In 1939 she was commissioned to paint a picture of a London bridge as a gift for the retiring American ambassador to London and the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The librar ...

purchased her lithograph, ''Snow Day at St Bartholomew's Hospital''. During World War Two, Ginger worked for the

project which aimed to produce a visual record of buildings and landscapes considered "at risk", either from wartime bombing or urbanization and development. Several of the watercolours Ginger produced, such as her depictions of the

Council House, Bristol City Hall (formerly the Council House) has been the seat of local government in Bristol, United Kingdom, since 1956 (before then the seat was in the Old Council House on Corn Street). It is situated on College Green, opposite the Cathedral a ...

and of Catherine Place in

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

include elements of bomb damage. American servicemen feature in her pictures of Cheltenham while a barrage balloon is visible in one of the three paintings she made of

Regent's Park Regent's Park (officially The Regent's Park) is one of the Royal Parks of London. It occupies of high ground in north-west Inner London, administratively split between the City of Westminster and the Borough of Camden (and historically betwee ...

during the conflict. During the

Blitz Blitz, German for "lightning", may refer to: Military uses *Blitzkrieg, blitz campaign, or blitz, a type of military campaign *The Blitz, the German aerial campaign against Britain in the Second World War *, an Imperial German Navy light cruiser b ...

, Ginger painted the scene at the

Goldsmiths' Hall Goldsmiths' Hall is a Grade I listed building at the junction of Foster Lane and Gresham Street in the City of London. It has served as an assay office and the headquarters of London's goldsmith guild, the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths, one ...

in London after it had been damaged by bombing and both the

War Artists' Advisory Committee The War Artists Advisory Committee (WAAC), was a British government agency established within the Ministry of Information at the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 and headed by Sir Kenneth Clark. Its aim was to compile a comprehensive artist ...

and the

Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths The Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths, commonly known as the Goldsmiths' Company and formally titled The Wardens and Commonalty of the Mystery of Goldsmiths of the City of London, is one of the Great Twelve Livery Companies of the City of Londo ...

acquired versions of the painting. In 1946, Ginger returned to London, having moved to

Keynsham Keynsham ( ) is a town and civil parish located between Bristol and Bath in Somerset, England. It has a population of 16,000. It was listed in the Domesday Book as ''Cainesham'' (as it is pronounced), which is believed to mean the home of Sain ...

near Bristol and then Marlow during the War and resumed her commercial career. In 1947 she illustrated Joan Lamburn's book ''The Mushroom Pony'' which was published by

Noel Carrington Noel Lewis Carrington (1895 – 11 April 1989) was an English book designer, editor, publisher, and the originator of Puffin Books. He was the author of books on design and on recreation and also worked for Oxford University Press and Penguin Books ...

, the founder of

Puffin Books Puffin Books is a longstanding children's imprint of the British publishers Penguin Books. Since the 1960s, it has been among the largest publishers of children's books in the UK and much of the English-speaking world. The imprint now belongs ...

. In 1943, Ginger wrote and illustrated a children's book ''Alexander, the Circus Pony'', also for Puffin. She produced illustrations, beginning in 1941 with ''A Farm in Normandy'', for several books by the author

Madeleine Henrey Madeleine Mathilde Henrey (1906–2004, née Gal, pseud. Mrs Robert Henrey) was a French-born writer. She wrote over 30 books, mainly of an autobiographical nature, that enjoyed considerable fame in post-war Britain and established rural lid-off-a ...

. In 1947, Ginger produced a colour lithograph, ''Town Centre'', for the School Prints series. In 1952 she was elected to

Royal Society of Painters in Watercolours The Royal Watercolour Society is a British institution of painters working in watercolours. The Society is a centre of excellence for water-based media on paper, which allows for a diverse and interesting range of approaches to the medium of wat ...

, she exhibited with them for the rest of her life and was the featured artist in their 1990 Spring Exhibition. In the 1970s she exhibited a number of etchings at both the

and with the Royal Society of Painter-Ethchers and Engravers. Later in life she focused more on portraiture work.

Personal life

Ginger married the silversmith

Leslie Durbin Leslie may refer to: * Leslie (name), a name and list of people with the given name or surname, including fictional characters Families * Clan Leslie, a Scottish clan with the motto "grip fast" * Leslie (Russian nobility), a Russian noble family ...

in 1940. The couple had met when they were both students at the Central School and had two children, a son and daughter, together. For many years the family lived in

Kew Kew () is a district in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its population at the 2011 census was 11,436. Kew is the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens ("Kew Gardens"), now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace. Kew is a ...

in London. Durbin died a few months before Ginger in 2005.

References

External links

*
Works in the Imperial War Museum collection
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ginger, Phyllis 1907 births 2005 deaths 20th-century English painters 20th-century English women artists 21st-century English painters 21st-century English women artists Alumni of Kingston University Alumni of the Central School of Art and Design British war artists English illustrators English women painters People educated at the Tiffin Girls' School People from New Malden Women book artists Book artists World War II artists 20th-century women painters 21st-century women painters