William Kempster

{{short description|English painter}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

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| name = William Kempster

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| birth_date = 1914

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| death_date = {{death year and age|1977|1914}}

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| nationality = British

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| notable_works = British Air Transport - The Pioneering Days 1919-1934 (1969)

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William Kempster (1914–1977) was a British artist, best known for his mural British Air Transport, which was commissioned by British Airports Authority in 1969 for Heathrow Airport, London and then displayed in Terminal One until 2015.

Early life

William Kempster was born in 1914.{{Cite web|url=https://artuk.org/discover/artists/kempster-william-19141976#|title=Kempster, William, 1914–1976 {{!}} Art UK|website=artuk.org|language=en|access-date=22 March 2019}}

Career

File:William Kempster 1966 World Cup stamp.jpg

With Barry Evans, Kempster painted a mural for the Festival of Britain in 1951.

Also with Evans, he was an illustrator for James Fisher’s The Wonderful World: The Adventure of the Earth We Live On (1954).{{Cite web|url=http://influx.themissive.com/post/16411400008/james-fisher|title=The Missive|website=The Missive|access-date=22 March 2019}} In addition, he designed a stamp to celebrate the 1966 Football World Cup.{{Cite web|url=https://postalheritage.wordpress.com/tag/concorde/|title=Concorde {{!}} The British Postal Museum & Archive blog|language=en|access-date=22 March 2019}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.postalmuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Stamp-History-1966-World-Cup.pdf|title=Worldcup Football Museum 1966|work=The Postal Museum|access-date=26 March 2019}}

Kempster is best known for his mural British Air Transport, which was commissioned by British Airports Authority in 1969 for Heathrow Airport, London and then displayed in Terminal One until 2015. It was unveiled in 1969 by Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, and it illustrates pioneer British airlines and a number of well-known pilots. In 2018, it was loaned to the Historic Croydon Airport Trust by the Maas Gallery and transferred to be displayed at Croydon Airport.{{Cite web|url=https://auctions.roseberys.co.uk/m/lot-details/index/catalog/126/lot/68330|title=William Kempster ARCA, British 1914-1977- The History of Aviation 1969|website=auctions.roseberys.co.uk|access-date=22 March 2019}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tnXfBQAAQBAJ&q=william+kempster+1914&pg=PA286|title=Architecture and Movement: the Dynamic Experience of Buildings and Landscapes|last1=Jones|first1=Peter Blundell|last2=Meagher|first2=Mark|publisher=Routledge|year=2015|isbn=9780415725347|location=Abingdon, Oxon|pages=286|language=en}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1969/1969%20-%201923.html?search=William%20kempster|title=1969 {{!}} 1923 {{!}} Flight Archive|website=www.flightglobal.com|access-date=22 March 2019}}{{Cite web|url=https://insidecroydon.com/2018/01/12/kempsters-historic-airport-mural-flies-in-to-croydon/|title=Kempster's historic airport mural flies in to Croydon|last=Insidecroydon|date=12 January 2018|website=Inside Croydon|language=en|access-date=22 March 2019}}

Death

Kempster died in 1977.

References

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