Norman Hepple
| Norman Hepple | |
|---|---|
| Born |
18 May 1908 London |
| Died | 3 January 1994 (aged 85) London |
| Nationality | British |
| Education | |
| Known for | Painting, drawing |
Robert Norman Hepple RA RP (18 May 1908 – 3 January 1994) was an English portrait painter, engravor and sculptor best known for his portraits of the British royal family. He was elected a member of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters in 1948 and served as their President from 1979 to 1983. Elected as an Associate Member to the Royal Academy of Arts in 1954, Hepple became an Academician in 1961.
Hepple was born in London and was the son of the painter Robert Watkin Hepple and the nephew of Wilson Hepple, the animal painter from Northumbria. Hepple studied at Goldsmiths College of Art and then the Royal Academy Schools, under Sir Walter Russell, where he obtained a scholarship in engraving. During the 1930s Hepple illustrated the books of the Shropshire novelist Mary Webb.
At the start of the Second World War Hepple joined the Auxiliary Fire Service, which in 1941 became the National Fire Service, NFS, and served as a fire-fighter during the London Blitz. A number of other artists had joined the NFS and a firemen artists' committee had been formed which included Leonard Rosoman, Bernard Hailstone, Paul Lucien Dessau and Robert Coram. As well as contributing to both War Artists' Advisory Committee, WAAC, and specialist civil defence art shows, the firemen held several of their own exhibitions. WAAC initially purchased two paintings by Hepple, one in 1940 and another in 1941. In 1943 WAAC commissioned a series of drawings from Hepple of NFS personnel and were to purchase another five paintings, including a fine portrait of a Canadian fire-fighter, from him before the war ended. At least one painting by Hepple was included in the firemen artists exhibitions that toured America during the war.
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