Michener Art Museum

Mary Pemberton Ginther

CRAFTSPERSON, NONFICTION WRITER, PAINTER
BORN: 1869, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
DIED: August 14, 1959, Doylestown, Pennsylvania

Mary Pemberton Ginther was a painter, illustrator, and novelist. She worked in stained glass, and her designs can be found in church windows in Philadelphia and Suffolk, Virginia. Equally well-known as an artist and an author, her interests converged in her books for girls, which she also illustrated. Her novels include The Jade Necklace, Bethanne, and three series: Betsy Hale, Miss Pat, and Hilda. Born in 1869, Ginther attended the Moore College of Art and Design and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia. Using the name Pemberton Ginther as an artist, she worked in oils, pastels and charcoal, usually painting landscapes, still lifes and figures showing a strong connection to her work as an illustrator.