My partner, Chris Hoggett, who has died aged 89, was a book illustrator and a towering figure on the Cheltenham art scene for many decades. Over the years he presented solo shows of his work and regularly contributed to Open Studios events, as well as being the mainstay of the Cheltenham Group of Artists.
He was born in Cheltenham, at Columbia Place, Winchcombe Street. His father, Christopher, was a violinist and his mother, Theodosia (nee Carter), a pianist and piano teacher. When Chris was young the family moved to Bristol, where his father played in the orchestra at the Hippodrome. After he lost his job – Chris said this was due to the advent of the talkies – they returned to Cheltenham, and his father died when Chris was only six. After that Chris led a rather precarious family life, a defining element in his later artwork.
Throughout his young life he developed his extraordinary drawing ability, including a stretch at the aeronautical engineers Dowty Rotol as a junior draughtsman. He was conscripted into the RAF for his national service and, when he came out, was accepted for a place at the Royal College of Art. After gaining his diploma he returned home to help his mother care for his brother David, a housebuilder who had been severely disabled by a fall from the roof.
Chris married Rose (nee Smith) in 1959, and he began teaching at Whitefriars school in Cheltenham, where he designed exciting, resourceful and sophisticated sets and costumes for school plays. In the 1960s he formed a working friendship with the publishers A&C Black and produced an extraordinary series of beautifully illustrated educational books, including four volumes of Let’s Explore Mathematics.
A long period of depression and a series of breakdowns led, in a positive way, to his magnum opus, the remarkable book The Joker, which catalogues his years of healing therapy through art and dream work – and to his collaboration with Iron Mill College in Exeter, which trains students in psychotherapy and drama therapy.
He leaves a legacy of work in many private collections and, notably, a piece of public sculpture for the Bradford Peace Library which was founded by David. It has the word “peace” in 52 languages.
Chris was inspired by the anthropomorphic qualities of natural landscapes and objects, and even produced a series of works exploring the imagery in the surface of burnt-out cars. His records of dreams during therapy, both graphic and textual, are a huge resource for future study. In any medium that he chose, be it painting, printing, ceramics or sculpture, he invariably produced work of great sensitivity and power.
He is survived by Rose, from whom he was separated, his children, Matthew, John, Louise, Michael and Richard, 12 grandchildren, and me.
