Diana Armfield RA (born 11 June 1920) is a British artist. She is known for landscapes, and has also painted portraits, literary subjects and still lifes. She has a particular interest in flower paintings, and is considered to owe much to the Sickert tradition. She studied at the

Slade School of Fine Art The UCL Slade School of Fine Art (informally The Slade) is the art school of University College London (UCL) and is based in London, England. It has been ranked as the UK's top art and design educational institution. The school is organised as ...

and the

Central School of Arts and Crafts The Central School of Art and Design was a public school of fine and applied arts in London, England. It offered foundation and degree level courses. It was established in 1896 by the London County Council as the Central School of Arts and Cr ...

.Royal Academy of Arts
Diana Armfield RA , Artist , Royal Academy of Arts
accessdate: 29 August 2014 Armfield was elected as a

Royal Academician The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...

in 1991.

Personal life

Armfield was born in Ringwood, Hampshire and attended

Bedales School Bedales School is a co-educational, boarding and day independent school in the village of Steep, near the market town of Petersfield in Hampshire, England. It was founded in 1893 by John Haden Badley in reaction to the limitations of conventio ...

, a co-educational independent school in the village of Steep in Hampshire, from which she graduated in 1937. She has a

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

background. Her uncle,

Maxwell Armfield Maxwell Ashby Armfield (5 October 1881 – 23 January 1972) was an English artist, illustrator and writer. Life Born to a Quaker family in Ringwood, Hampshire, Armfield was educated at Sidcot School and at Leighton Park School. In 1887 he was ...

, was an English artist, illustrator and writer. Armfield met her future husband Bernard Dunstan while she was at the

. They married in 1949 and have three sons. She lives in

Kew Kew () is a district in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its population at the 2011 census was 11,436. Kew is the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens ("Kew Gardens"), now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace. Kew is a ...

, south-west London and also has a home in Wales.

Career

Armfield has worked as a painter, designer and teacher. She started her career running the Armfield-Passano Partnership with Roy Passano. The Partnership existed from 1946 till 1952 and produced textiles and wallpapers. At the 1951

Festival of Britain The Festival of Britain was a national exhibition and fair that reached millions of visitors throughout the United Kingdom in the summer of 1951. Historian Kenneth O. Morgan says the Festival was a "triumphant success" during which people: ...

Armfield-Passano lengths were displayed and examples of their designs are in the

Victoria & Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

collection. After travelling to the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

Armfield became inspired by Ukrainian folk design. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Armfield organised cultural and entertainment events for soldiers and factory workers in YMCA hostels, started neighbourhood choirs and an amateur orchestra in London. From 1959 she taught at the

Byam Shaw School of Art The Byam Shaw School of Art, often known simply as Byam Shaw, was an independent art school in London, England, which specialised in fine art and offered foundation and degree level courses. It was founded in 1910 by John Liston Byam Shaw and ...

. She worked as a fabric and wallpaper designer until 1965. In 1985 she was appointed artist-in-residence in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

, Australia. Following this appointment she was selected for an artist-in-residence post at

Jackson, Wyoming Jackson is a town in Teton County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 10,760 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, up from 9,577 in 2010. It is the largest town in Teton County and its county seat. Jackson is the principal town of ...

in 1989. She was elected as Associate Member of the Royal Academy in 1989 and in 1991 became a full member. Armfield has exhibited in London, and is particularly associated with the Browse & Darby Gallery. She had a solo show at the Tegfryn Art Gallery,

Anglesey Anglesey (; cy, (Ynys) Môn ) is an island off the north-west coast of Wales. It forms a principal area known as the Isle of Anglesey, that includes Holy Island across the narrow Cymyran Strait and some islets and skerries. Anglesey island ...

in 1975 and 1978. In 1988 she was featured in a combined retrospective with Bernard Dunstan at the Oriel 31 Gallery in Newtown and

Welshpool Welshpool ( cy, Y Trallwng) is a market town and community in Powys, Wales, historically in the county of Montgomeryshire. The town is from the Wales–England border and low-lying on the River Severn; its Welsh language name ''Y Trallwng'' m ...

. Armfield's work includes commissions from

The National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

in 1988 and from

The Prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rulers o ...

in 1989. Her work is held by

The British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It documen ...

, the Contemporary Art Society for Wales and the Government Picture Collection. Armfield is a member of the

New English Art Club The New English Art Club (NEAC) was founded in London in 1885 as an alternative venue to the Royal Academy. It continues to hold an annual exhibition of paintings and drawings at the Mall Galleries in London, exhibiting works by both members and a ...

(elected in 1970), the

Royal West of England Academy The Royal West of England Academy (RWA) is Bristol's oldest art gallery, located in Clifton, Bristol, near the junction of Queens Road and Whiteladies Road. Situated in a Grade 2* listed building, it hosts five galleries and an exhibition program ...

(elected in 1975), the

Royal Watercolour Society The Royal Watercolour Society is a British institution of painters working in watercolours. The Society is a centre of excellence for water-based media on paper, which allows for a diverse and interesting range of approaches to the medium of wa ...

(elected in 1980) and the

Royal Cambrian Academy of Art The Royal Cambrian Academy of Art (RCA) is a centre of excellence for art in Wales. Its main gallery is located in Conwy and it has over a hundred members. image:Plas Mawr.jpg, 240px, Plas Mawr, Conwy Early history During the 19th century there we ...

. She is an editorial consultant for

Leisure Painter magazine ''Leisure Painter'' is a learn-to-paint magazine, first published in 1967. It is published monthly by The Artists’ Publishing Company, based in Tenterden, Kent, and costs £4.99 from newsagents, supermarkets and art shops. The magazine's edito ...

Publications

Armfield has appeared in and has consulted on many publications: ''The New English'' by Kenneth McConkey, ''Pocket Guide: Painting in Oils'' (Series Consultant) ''Drawing, A Practical Step by Step Guide'' (Series Consultant) ''The Art of Diana Armfield'' by Julian Halsby,

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Armfield, Diana 1920 births Living people 20th-century English women artists 21st-century English women artists Alumni of the Central School of Art and Design Alumni of the Slade School of Fine Art British centenarians People educated at Bedales School Royal Academicians People from Ringwood, Hampshire Women centenarians