Juliet Pannett; portraitist (Great)
Hyfler/Rosner
The Independent
01 September 2005
Her portraits in the National Portrait Gallery. Click on
the thumbnails:
http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/person.asp?LinkID=mp07394&role=art
Juliet Pannett was an energetic portraitist whose paintings
and drawings of writers, artists, musicians, politicians,
medical and military figures and members of the Royal Family
featured not only in exhibitions but also in newspapers and
periodicals. As special artist for the Illustrated London
News from 1957 to 1964 she had her own seat in the press
gallery of the House of Commons, from which she made a
memorable sketch of Sir Winston Churchill leaving for the
last time. Pannett portrayed nine prime ministers in all -
others including Alec Douglas-Home, Harold Wilson, James
Callaghan, Edward Heath and Margaret Thatcher.
The exhibition "Juliet Pannett: Chronicler of Her Times",
which opened at the National Portrait Gallery in December
last year and closed a few weeks ago, celebrated her work as
the gallery's oldest living artist. Despite poor health and
aged 93, Pannett was able to attend the private view of her
drawings from the collection.
She was born Juliet Somers in Hove, Sussex, in 1911. Her
mother, May Brice, who came from a family of London mantle
makers and had a strict schooling, had developed a youthful
passion for a vicar which proved abortive, then was proposed
to by the much older Charles Somers, a professional gambler
who squandered the family's money. Juliet was the fifth of
their seven children, four girls and three boys.
Juliet received early encouragement from her mother, who
gave her pencil and paper to sketch in her pram. It seemed
natural that she would progress to Brighton School of Art
aged 16, her teachers including that fine watercolourist
Charles Knight, Louis Ginnett and Morgan Rendle. It was a
thorough training, preparing her to cope with drawing in
pastel and charcoal, painting in oils and watercolour and
wood engraving.
By the age of 18 she was producing series of drawings of
characters for the local papers and magazines. She drew many
players for the Sussex County Cricket Club and Brighton and
Hove Albion Football Club. She earned her living as an
artist until 1938, when she married Captain Maurice Pannett.
He had served in the Devonshire Regiment, was then bursar at
Bromsgrove School, and would soon be called up again during
the Second World War.
After the war the family moved to Rose Hill School, in
Gloucestershire, where Maurice took a teaching post, then in
1949 to Croydon, Surrey, where Juliet turned her garage into
a studio and resumed her artistic career. She joined the
Croydon Art Society and drew local characters for the
Croydon Advertiser. Painting had been difficult after
marriage as she brought up her two children, Denis and
Elizabeth, who both became artists. London offered the best
opportunities for her talents. As the family lacked a car,
this meant lugging her heavy bag of materials a mile to the
station and back, in addition to the responsibilities of
looking after her family. Maurice's prep-school salary being
modest, paying guests helped finances.
Juliet Pannett became a familiar figure sketching at the
Albert Hall and Festival Hall, often attending orchestra
rehearsals. She also attended jazz clubs, Louis Armstrong
and Benny Goodman among her many musician subjects. They
would often sign the completed portrait.
The coming decades saw her exhibiting prolifically. She
showed in mixed exhibitions at the Royal Academy, Royal
Institute of Painters in Watercolours, Royal Society of
Portrait Painters, Pastel Society, City of London Art
Exhibition and other shows in London and abroad. There were
family exhibitions as well as solo shows at the Cooling and
Qantas Galleries. There was also extensive work for the
printed page, clients including the national daily papers,
Radio Times, The Law Guardian and book publishers. If
meeting a deadline meant dropping everything and rushing the
drawing to London, she would do it. She was special artist
for several inaugural flights for Qantas Airlines, Trans
Canada Airlines and the Israeli airline El Al. She also
taught on P&O cruises around the world.
In 1963, Pannett was commissioned by the Devon & Dorset
Regiment to paint a portrait of Princess Marina, Duchess of
Kent, their colonel-in-chief, and in the 1970s further royal
portraits followed, of Prince Andrew, commissioned by the
Painter-Stainers' Company as a gift to the Queen, and Prince
Edward as a gift to the Queen from the Royal Household. In
1989, Pannett was commissioned by the Chartered Insurance
Institute to paint a large oil portrait of the Queen, now
hanging in their offices in Lothbury, in the City. A further
portrait of the Queen was commissioned for presentation by
the Duke of Edinburgh to the island of Malta in recognition
of 25 years of independence.
In 1964 the Pannett family moved to Angmering, Sussex, where
Juliet had a spacious studio and entertained many famous
people as sitters. An indication of the range of her
subjects can soon be seen in London at Bonhams, New Bond
Street, which is holding in October a sale of the Roy Davids
collection of portraits of writers, artists and musicians
that includes 17 of her works. Among her subjects are the
poet Charles Causley, playwright Christopher Fry, writer
Leonard Woolf, conductor Sir Thomas Beecham, composer Sir
Lennox Berkeley and violinist Yehudi Menuhin.
Angmering facilitated development of the Pannett family art
courses, from 1973 to 1992. Students painted Sussex
landscape subjects in the open air and at the end of the
week an exhibition would be held. Some students went on to
become serious artists. In 1985 there was a Pannett family
exhibition at the Arun Art Centre, in Arundel, nine members
from three generations contributing.
In her eighties, Juliet Pannett's eyesight deteriorated. Her
last major portrait was of General Sir John Wilsey, colonel
of the Devon & Dorsets, painted for the regiment in 1988.
David Buckman
Juliet Kathleen Somers, artist and teacher: born Hove,
Sussex 15 July 1911; MBE 1991; married 1938 Maurice Pannett
(died 1980; one son, one daughter); died Rustington, West
Sussex 22 August 2005.