Lynette Hemmant

Who is Lynette Hemmant?

Margaret Lynette Hemmant is an artist and painter living in Camberwell in south London. Hemmant grew up in south Wales, Australia and the English Home counties before studying at Saint Martin's School of Art in London. After graduating in 1958, Hemmant worked as freelance illustrator for Hamish Hamilton, Heinemann and other publishers.

Hemmant has illustrated both classic and modern books including the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayam, Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, and Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, as well as modern authors like Ruth Manning-Sanders, Dick King-Smith and Dorothy Edwards. Hemmant has created designs for postage stamps as well, including a series of Christmas stamps issued by the island of Guernsey, and produced a cover for Reader's Digest.

Hemmant has also been commissioned as a portrait painter and her works have been exhibited in a one-woman show in Bellagio, Italy. Her later work has been exhibited in London and the Republic of Ireland.

Since 1979, Hemmant has focused on drawing and painting. Constant observation of natural forms has inspired large imaginative paintings in which plant life and architecture predominate. A major source of images is her own garden, along with landscapes in Venice and other parts of Italy. Hemmant's work is not conceptual. The only agenda is the pursuit of beauty and harmony more in keeping with nineteenth and early twentieth century styles.