Alfred Daniels - An Artist For The People
Apr 13th, 2008 by Jean Littman
Alfred Daniels, painter, teacher and writer of books on art, was born in London and trained at Woolwich Art School from 1943 to 1944. As a young graduate, he toured Florence, Venice, Ravenna and Siena, where he was deeply impressed by the Italian Primitives.
Known for his interest in ordinary people doing ordinary things, his style was neither romanticized nor dramatized. His paintings depict a sort of shorthand in creating the flat silhouette of a figure which, despite its puppet-like appearance, has a real humanity of its own.
(See example left - “Childrens’ Playground”) Daniels has been fashioned by his working-class background and his paintings explore and recreate a world he understands.
National Service in the Royal Air Force took him away from his art in 1945, but he resumed his studies at the Royal College of Art from 1947 to 1950, undertaking postgraduate studies in mural design from 1950 to 1952.
He held a number of teaching posts, including Hornsey College of Art from 1951 to 1976, part-time at the Royal College of Art from 1964 to 1969, part-time at Sir John Cass, City of London Polytechnic from 1973 to 1988, part-time at Middlesex Polytechnic from 1976 to 1980 and then again at the Royal College of Art from 1984 to 1987.
Daniels has shown widely in mixed exhibitions from the early 1950s. He was one of Jack Beddington’s Young Artists of Promise in the 1957 book of that title, and his stylised depiction of people and places remains remarkably consistent.
He has handled a number of commissions, including murals for Hammersmith Town Hall. His books include Painting and Drawing (1961); Drawing made Simple (1962); and Landscape Painting in Watercolour and Oil (1980.
His many solo shows include Zwemmer Gallery from the mid 1950s with later ones including Belgrave Gallery, 1989: Alfred Daniels in Israel. He also held solo exhibitions at the John Whibley Gallery, London in 1968 and 1971.
Daniels’ paintings are mostly of places he knows well and which are under threat from developers. This concern to document is allied to a highly personal vision. He was elected Member of the Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolours in 1972 and Member of the Royal Society of British Artists in 1982. Leeds University and Greater London Council hold his work.
His award-winning murals (1952-4) at Hammersmith Town Hall, depicting life on the Thames, are regarded as modern classics. An example of his early painting - rightly compared to the work of the great American artist, Ben Shahn - was included in a recent survey of 1950s British paintings at London’s Barbican Centre. His exhibitions at RONA Gallery have included Visions of Oxford and Spirit of Scotland.
Daniel’s brilliant book Painting and Drawing Secrets has recently been republished and is one of the best resources for beginning artists and those wanting to brush up on their skills.
