Diana Maxwell Armfield (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 art school, school of fine arts, 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 ...

.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 in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...

in 1991.

Personal life

Armfield was born in

Ringwood, Hampshire Ringwood is a market town in south-west Hampshire, England, on the River Avon, Hampshire, River Avon close to the New Forest, northeast of Bournemouth and southwest of Southampton. It was founded by the Anglo-Saxon England, Anglo-Saxons, ...

and attended

Bedales School Bedales School is a coeducational boarding and day public school, in the village of Steep, near the market town of Petersfield in Hampshire, England. It was founded in 1893 by Amy Garrett Badley and John Haden Badley in reaction to the li ...

, 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 the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

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, Ringwood, Hampshire, Armfield was educated at Sidcot School and at Leighton Park Sch ...

, was an English artist, illustrator and writer. Armfield met her future husband Bernard Dunstan (1920–2017) 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 ...

, 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 to 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. Labour Party cabinet member Herbert Morrison was the prime mover; in 1947 he started with the ...

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

Victoria & Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...

collection. After travelling to the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

Armfield became inspired by Ukrainian folk design. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, 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 Byam Shaw, John Liston Bya ...

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

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

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

Jackson, Wyoming Jackson is a resort town in Teton County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 10,760 at the 2020 census, up from 9,577 in 2010. It is Teton County's only incorporated municipality and county seat, and it is the largest incorporated town ...

in 1989. She was elected as

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

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 ( ; ) is an island off the north-west coast of Wales. It forms the bulk of the Principal areas of Wales, county known as the Isle of Anglesey, which also includes Holy Island, Anglesey, Holy Island () and some islets and Skerry, sker ...

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 ( ) is a market town and Community (Wales), community in Powys, Wales, historically in the Historic counties of Wales, county of Montgomeryshire. The town is from the Wales–England border and low-lying on the River Severn. The c ...

. Armfield's work includes commissions from

The National Trust The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...

in 1988 and from

The Prince of Wales Prince of Wales (, ; ) is a title traditionally given to the male heir apparent to the History of the English monarchy, English, and later, the British throne. The title originated with the Welsh rulers of Kingdom of Gwynedd, Gwynedd who, from ...

in 1989. Her work is held by

The British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

, the Contemporary Art Society for Wales and the

Government Art Collection The Government Art Collection (GAC) is the collection of artworks owned by the UK government and administered by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). The GAC's artworks are used to decorate major government buildings in the UK and ...

. Armfield is a member of the

New English Art Club The New English Art Club (NEAC) is a society for contemporary artists that was founded in London, England, in 1886 as an alternative venue to the Royal Academy. The NEAC holds an annual exhibition of paintings and drawings at the Mall Galleries ...

(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 II* listed building, it hosts five galleries and an exhibition prog ...

(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. 240px, Plas Mawr, Conwy Early history During the 19th century there were numerous attempt ...

. She is an editorial consultant for ''Leisure Painter'' magazine.

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 English women centenarians People educated at Bedales School People from Kew, London People from Ringwood, Hampshire Royal Academicians