Richard CHEALES (1922 – 1988)

BIOGRAPHY

Richard Cheales was a watercolour painter, renowned for his varied and atmospheric landscape paintings (as well as some portraits), which were painted across South Africa – from the mine dumps of Johannesburg to the South Coast of then Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal) and Durban harbour and yacht basin – and in the mountain kingdom of Lesotho. He would often paint rapidly, capturing the changing light in the first and final minutes of a day. Back in his studio in Johannesburg, he would complete the paintings, then mount and frame them himself.

He also wrote art reviews for newspapers like The Star and The Citizen.

He was the younger brother of HWA Cheales, decorated WW2 veteran and farmer. His older brother Humphrey was killed riding a motor cycle, while at work as a traffic policeman, in Johannesburg before WW2.