Mary Pemberton Ginther

Mary Pemberton Ginther was a painter, illustrator, and novelist. She worked in stained glass, and her designs can be found in church windows in Philadelphia and Suffolk, Virginia. Equally well-known as an artist and an author, her interests converged in her books for girls, which she also illustrated. Her novels include The Jade Necklace, Bethanne, and three series: Betsy Hale, Miss Pat, and Hilda.

Born in 1869, Ginther attended the Moore College of Art and Design and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia. Using the name Pemberton Ginther as an artist, she worked in oils, pastels, and charcoal; usually painting landscapes, still lifes, and figures, showing a strong connection to her work as an illustrator.

Education and Training
Philadelphia School of Design for Women (now Moore College of Art and Design), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1889-1892
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1893-1897
Also studied in Paris, France

Connection to Bucks County
Mary Pemberton Ginther lived at her home, Gable End, on York Road in Buckingham during the summer, and in an apartment at Broad and Mechanics Streets in Doylestown in the winter. During the 1920s and 1930s she worked as an art teacher and also lectured at Doylestown High School.

Colleagues and Affiliations
Lester Trauch, a journalist for The Daily Intelligencer in Doylestown, was a friend and colleague. Painter Anne Chestnut was her student.

Major Group Exhibitions:
Philadelphia School of Art and Design, ( now Moore College of Art and Design), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1892, 1894
Plastics Club, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1940
Early Women Artists of Bucks County, Bucks County Council on the Arts, Doylestown, Pennsylvania, 1979
The Human Figure, Bucks County Council on the Arts, Doylestown, Pennsylvania, 1981

Major Collections
Doylestown Trust Company, Doylestown, Pennsylvania
Doylestown Hospital, Doylestown, Pennsylvania
Trinity Episcopal Church, Buckingham, Pennsylvania

Commissions
Stained Glass windows:
The Church of Restoration, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
St. John's Church, Suffolk, Viginia

Literature
Illustrated and wrote:
Hilda Series
Betsy Hale Series
The Jade Necklace
Miss Pat Series

Teaching and Professional Appointments
She had one private student, painter Anne Chestnut of Doylestown. Mrs. Ginther would come to Doylestown High School in the 1920s and 1930s to talk to the students about her paintings and give lessons.

Major Awards
Gold Award, Plastics Club of Philadelphia, 1940
Honorable Mention, Moore College of Art and Design, 1892, 1894

Affiliations and Memberships
Philadelphia Art Alliance
Plastics Club
Miss A. Association