Charles E. Ambrose: a short biography

Born January 6, 1922, in Memphis, Tennessee, Charles Edward Ambrose was raised in North Carolina until age 12, when the Depression and the death of his father forced the family – a mother and five young sons – to move to the small town of Reform, Alabama. Following high school, Ambrose enlisted in the Marine Corps; during World War II, he served in the Pacific at Guadalcanal and Okinawa. After the war, he attended the University of Alabama, earning a bachelor’s and master’s degree in fine art. He also studied portraiture with Jerry Farnsworth in Cape Cod, Massachusetts.



In 1950, Ambrose began a career as a teacher of fine art, first as a professor at the University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, then in 1970 as chairman of Mississippi University for Women in Columbus, where he remained until retiring from the state system in 1982. He then took on his final post as chairman of the art department of William Carey College on the Coast, at Gulfport, Mississippi, where he worked until 1988. After a long battle with diabetes, the artist began to lose his eyesight in the mid-1990s. He died July 29, 1999, in Columbus, Mississippi.

The body of work left by Charles Ambrose reflects the flexibility of his teaching philosophy: to enable aspiring artists to master the styles and media of their choice. Through teaching many styles of art, the teacher himself mastered many, and his range was nothing short of phenomenal. Best-known for his colorful watercolor scenes of the American South and Gulf Coast, he was also an accomplished portrait painter, and his oil and acrylic portraits of judges, senators, corporate officers and others are highly valued. His later works, many of which are mixed-media studies of line and texture, form the culmination of over half a century of study and experimentation. He showed his works occasionally at galleries and exhibitions in the Southeast, and one of his sculptures appeared in the Mississippi Pavilion at the New Orleans World’s Fair. One of America’s hidden masters, however, Charles Ambrose chose to concentrate on art itself, foregoing any real efforts to market the masterpieces he created.

This page has been designed to bring his talent, albeit posthumously, into the public gaze where it so rightfully belongs. Over time, various virtual ‘galleries’ of his works will appear here, just as soon as cataloging and uploading will allow. Should you wish to find out more about a particular work, have any questions or, indeed, memories about Charles Ambrose, or simply wish to say hello, please don't hesitate to contact me. I am his daughter, and I would be delighted to hear from you.

All images and content are copyright © 2009 by Jamie E. Ambrose