Viewing sale lots for our Auction Alert series, I always happen across artists & designers that I’ve never come across previously.

Born in Trellis Street in Bow, and affectionately referred to as Danny, Alfred Daniels (1924-2015) is sometimes referred to as the Lowry of the East End – although he once quipped, “I’m not really an East Ender, I’m more of a Bow boy”.

With help from his uncle Charlie, he left school early and enrolled in Woolwich Polytechnic to learn sign-writing. He never completed his course, instead – again, thanks to his uncle – got a job as a lettering artist at the Lawrence Danes Studio in Chancery Lane.

When his uncle started up his own studio in Fetter Lane above the Vogue Magazine photo studio, he went to work for him, earning £1 a week. In 1947, Danny was accepted to attend the Royal College of Art. After gaining his 1st class degree there, he stayed on for a further year to study mural design.

In 1954, he completed his five impressive, award-winning murals inside Hammersmith Town Hall and also participated in their conservation in 1983.

I never wanted to be a painter, I wanted to be an illustrator of life… It isn’t enough to make a picture of something – You have to be there, you have to touch it, you have to experience it.

In 1973, he joined the Royal Watercolour Society, followed by the Royal Society of British Artists a decade later. He was also elected keeper of The Royal Society in 1991.

In addition to his many paintings, he illustrated calendars for Oxford University Press and posters for the General Post Office. He often exhibited at the Russell Gallery in Putney. His work is in the permanent collections of The Science Museum, Manchester Art Gallery, Bradford Museums and Galleries and Nottingham City Museums & Galleries.

For a number of years, he taught at Sir John Cass School of Art – nicknamed the ‘Aldgate Bauhaus’ and now the School of Art, Architecture and Design at London Metropolitan University. As well as teaching, he was the author of a number of books about drawing and painting.

The Gentle Author of Spitalfields Life interviewed and wrote about Alfred Daniels on many occasions. Included in the posts are lots of photos of his sketchbooks and studio in his family home in Bedford Park, Chiswick. You can find out more here.

Making a painting is like baking a cake, one slice is for you but the rest is for everyone else.

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Additional image credits:
Mutual Art