Stanley Simmonds ARCA | |
|---|---|
 Stanley Simmonds, alongside one of his portraits of Charles Causley | |
| Born | 29 October 1917 Droitwich, Worcestershire, England |
| Died | 22 June 2006 (aged 88) Launceston, Cornwall, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Education | |
| Known for | Painter, Art Teacher |
| Spouse | Cynthia Kathleen King |
| Website | stanleysimmonds |
Stanley Wilfred Simmonds ARCA (29 October 1917 – 11 June 2006)[1][2] was a British painter and art teacher.
He was born in Droitwich, Worcestershire, in 1917, the third and youngest son of a relief signalman and a dressmaker.[3] After a scholarship to the Royal Grammar School Worcester, he attended Birmingham College of Art from 1934 to 1939. During the Second World War, he served in the Royal Navy, where he encountered the poet Charles Causley, who was to remain a lifelong friend.[4] He painted a number of portraits of Causley, and the poet dedicated his 1970 book of poems for children, Figgie Hobbin to Simmonds and his wife.[5] Serving aboard the aircraft carrier HMS Arbiter, he observed the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.[6] Service in the Far East awoke an interest in oriental art, which is reflected in the colour-palette of some his later paintings.[7]
After the war, he studied at the Royal College of Art, graduating in 1948 with the ARCA in Painting.[7] It was around this time that he married the artist Cynthia King, whom he had met at the college.[4]
In 1949 he began teaching art at Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar School, where he was to remain for the entirety of his teaching career.[3] Among his pupils was Quentin Blake, who has paid tribute to him as a mentor:
He was enormously helpful and valuable to me, as I am sure he was to many others, because his commentary on your work was not a question of marks and assessment but an adult exchange about what you had actually done.[8]
This is supported by the school's historian, who notes that Simmonds fought against the headmaster's "relentless drive for academic laurels".[9]
- ^ General Register Office 2006.
- ^ Probate Service 2016.
- ^ a b Moncrieff 2013.
- ^ a b Moncrieff-Bray Gallery 2015.
- ^ Green 2013, p. 152.
- ^ Wells & Hazelgrove 2011, p. 79.
- ^ a b Artemis Arts 2016.
- ^ Blake 2013.
- ^ Wells & Hazelgrove 2011, p. 96.