BERTRAM PRANCE  1889 - 1958

    Bertram Prance was best known during the nineteen twenties and thirties for his humorous illustrations in Punch magazine also in the Humorist, London Opinion and many more.  His artistic gifts manifested at an early age while a pupil at the school of Art and Science in Bideford and he was very soon having his work published in The Tatler' and other popular story magazines and books.  His mastery of the pen was shown at its best in the black and white drawings and cartoons depicting the social mores of the period and in the various characters he drew whether it be a  snobby hostess or a weather beaten and threadbare tramp. All captured with a delightful sense of humour.  In the 1930's he illustrated the books of Anthony Armstrong, one of the 'Punch' literary contributers, and post war the Lone Pine series of books for children by Malcolm Saville.  There were many others but during the 1940/45 war, like every one else, his work was seriously disrupted and his cartoon work never recovered.  After the war he was still in demand for book illustration and advertisements but he gradually turned his talents to painting.  He worked in guache and oils and was prolific in his output; he loved the countryside, the skies, coasts and seashore which were such a prominent influence in his younger days.

    One of five children Bertram Prance was born on December 5th 1889  in Bideford, North Devonshire.  His father was well known locally as Captain Prance, skipper of his own fishing vessel the 'Deera', which was one of many fishing vessels bringing their catches to the quayside in Bideford.  The sea and the skies, therefore were very much part of the visual experience of the young Bertram.  Apart from a brief period during  the war when he returned to Bideford most of Bertram's adult life was spent on the Surrey/Sussex border where he had bought land and had a house built for himself and his young family. He was elected a member of the Savage Club, the foremost arts club in London, where he was to meet other artists at the top of the stage, music and literary professions. He was also an active member of the London Sketch Club situated in the Marylebone Road where many practicing commercial artists gathered once or twice a week for work and entertainment.  Friday nights were always work nights where often the pictures drawn and painted were swapped.  He was elected President of the Sketch Club in 1948.

    Bertram Prance came from a long line of North Devon Prances whose grandfather was John Prance of Peppercombe, the one who fell over the cliff there and died from his injuries in 1871. He married Kate Macfarlane from Barnstaple in 1915 and had two children.  He was greatly interested in the foundation of the Burton Art Gallery just after the war. This gallery has been much enlarged and modernised since and his son arranged  a comprehensive retrospective exhibition of his work there in 1998.  The 'Burton' has a number of his drawings and paintings in its permanent exhibition.