Charles Pears

In 1932 at the Los Angeles Olympics English water colorist, oil-painter, and book-illustrator Charles Pears was also a writer and an avid sailor, and wrote a number of books on small boat cruising. Pears studied nearby his hometown at East Hardwick and Pomfret College.

Pears specialized in marine scenes and was later appointed the first president of the Society of Naval Artists. During his career he also worked as an illustrator, contributing to The Yellow Book, the Illustrated London News, Punch, The Graphic and other periodicals. He also designed posters for the London Metropolitan Railway. During World War I, Pears was appointed an official war artist to the Admiralty in addition to holding a commission in the Royal Marines. He again worked as a war artist during World War II.

Pears received an Honorable Mention in 1932 in the category Paintings for his work Shamrock V. The full title of his work in the catalog is Shamrock V (Also King’s Yacht Britannia and White Heather). The Shamrock V was a J-class yacht, the first of her class to be built in Britain for tea magnate Thomas Lipton, and sailed in 1930 for the America’s Cup without success. The Shamrock V appears in several of Pears’ paintings. However, none of the known works matches the subtitle given in the catalog. The 1928 entry Sailing for Ladies could well be Ladies’ Race, which was reproduced in a book published as early as 1920.