Painter and sculptor David Gwynne Lemon was born on November 18, 1916, in Newark, New Jersey, to Welsh emigres. As a child his family moved back to Britain for a time before emigrating to Canada when Lemon was seven years old. The Lemon family eventually returned to the U.S, living first in Minnesota and then in Iowa. He graduated from Iowa City High in 1934 and in 1935 he was enrolled at the University of Michigan. By the age of twenty-four he was an art teacher at Elmhurst College in Chicago, and in 1940 he married Florence Saltsman. He served in the U.S. Airforce during World War II from June of 1943 to March of 1946. David and Florence then relocated to California, ultimately settling in the East Bay. David became a part of the San Francisco Art Association (SFAA), exhibiting in the seventy-fifth annual exhibition of painting and sculpture at the San Francisco War Memorial.

In addition to painting, Lemon was an illustrator, contributing the imagery for the young adult adventure novel “An American Ghost,” by Sonoma County-based author Chester Aaron (New York. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1973).

Lemon died in Alameda, California on August 22, 1979.

Confusion surrounding the name David Lemon abounds, as there were two artists of that name at the same time in the East Bay: David Gwynne Lemon, and David Arthur Lemon. They both exhibited at the SFAA show.