Donald Chrisholm Towner (1903-1985)

Painter and ceramics expert, born in Eastbourne, Sussex, great uncle having bequeathed the money to found the Towner Art Gallery in 1923. He studied at Eastbourne School of Art, 1919-23, then the RCA, 1923-26. From the 1920’s he began to exhibit in mixed London exhibitions. He moved to Hampstead in 1927 which became his home for the rest of his life. In 1982 a solo exhibition of Sussex paintings was held at Towner Art Gallery, Eastbourne which has examples of his work in its permanent collection as does Burgh House, Hampstead. His commissions included the reredos at St. Oswald's Parish Church, Ashbourne, Derbyshire and another at Abbotsbury, Dorset. Bibliography: Recollections of a Landscape Painter & Pottery Collector : An autobiography by Donald Chisholm Towner. Published by Born-Hawes, New York 1979.With thanks to artbiogs.co.uk