Sophie Pemberton (1869-1959) was a Canadian
painter.

Sophie Pemberton
Born in
Victoria,
British Columbia
, she was the daughter of Teresa Jane Grautoff and
Joseph Despard Pemberton
(1821-93). A successful executive with the Hudson's Bay Company and the first
Surveyor-General of Vancouver Island
, her father could afford to send her to live and
study in Paris
at the
Académie Julian.

Little Boy Blue by
Pemberton
Pemberton painted at a time when her chosen mediums had been the
exclusive domain of men and her European influences can be seen in
her work.
The painter of both portraits and landscapes,
Pemberton was the first artist from the province of British
Columbia to receive international acclaim when her work was
exhibited at the Royal Academy in London
, including
her award-winning 1897 work seen here titled "Little Boy
Blue."
In 1905, she married Arthur Beanlands, an Anglican priest. He died
in 1917 and she eventually married Horace Deane-Drummond. Beyond
her work on canvas, Sophie Pemberton taught painting to local
female artists. In 1909 she did the artistic decoration for the
non-denominational Pemberton Memorial Chapel gifted by her family
to Victoria's Royal Jubilee Hospital.
Sophie
Pemberton died in 1959 in Victoria and was interred there in the
Ross Bay
Cemetery
.
References