Reserved

Signed, twice; oil on canvas; 39½ × 49½ in. (100.4 × 125.7 cm.)

This painting makes a fascinating pendant to William Powell Frith’s celebrated Ramsgate Sands 1854 (Royal Collection), of which this is an updated version in spirit.

The design was from a series commissioned by Southern Railway’s
advertising manager, John Elliot, following the 1923 amalgamation of the
numerous companies operating railways in the South of England. It comes
from the same era as John Hassall’s iconic Skegness is so Bracing 1926.

Pears designed a similar poster for Paignton for Great Western Railways.
In both, the principal figure is probably based on a magazine still cut-out
and arranged by the artist as a photomontage.

In the background are the harbour wall and casino (dating from the 1880s).
Ramsgate was undergoing a renaissance in the 1920s as a popular seaside
destination. John Burnett built a modernist sun shelter and pool in 1923.

We are grateful to Jacqui Ansell, Richard Barclay, Michael Barker and Peyton Skipwith for assistance.

Thumbnail panels:

Charles Pears 1873–1958

Marine painter and lithographer, born at Pontefract, Yorkshire. Pears worked initially as a black-and-white artist for magazines from the late 189os, serving as a theatrical caricaturist for Pick-Me-Up. During World War I he was an Official War Artist for the Admiralty, a position he repeated during World War Il, and he gradually established a reputation as a sound marine painter with a strong sense of design. He was founder and first president of the RSMA and his work found its way into the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, and the Imperial War Museum. However, as a versatile draughtsman he also did many posters and illustrated Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, 1922, and the works of Charles Dickens. He wrote a number of books, such as From the Thames to the Seine, 1910, and South Coast Cruising from the Thames to Penzance, 1931. Exhibited widely, including RA, ROI and Fine Art Society. Lived at St Mawes, Cornwall.