Stuart Armfield

Stuart Maxwell Armfield (1916-1999) was a British painter and visual artist. He is renowned for his use of the traditional egg tempera technique, a process that uses egg yolk to bind pigments, and which dates from the Byzantine world of the early Middle Ages. 

Many of his works have been sold at auction, including 'View from the Artist's House, Polperro' sold at Dreweatts, Donnington Priory 'The Contents of an Oxfordshire Dower House and a Surrey ' in 2015 for $5,866. 

Short biography

Armfield was born in 1916, in Sanderstead, Surrey. 

He studied arts and history of architecture at the Royal West of England College of Art in Bristol. 
In the years 1935-40, Stuart worked in the Art Department of Ealing Studios.  He moved to Cornwall in 1942 and took up painting as a full-time professional career in 1945. He worked in a studio in Looe, South Cornwall, for 20 years, after which he opened a gallery in 1965. Later he moved to Plymouth, Devon.

After World War II, Armfield produced Symbolist pictures which featured black models, chessboards, and keys, sought by collectors such as King Hassan II of Morocco, the exiled Prince Chula Chakrabongse of Thailand and the actor Eric Portman. 

His cousin, Maxwell Armfield (1881 – 1972,) a prominent English artist, encouraged him to use tempera in his artworks. He favored the medium for its ability to depict clear lines, razor sharp detail and bright color. 

Stuart died in 1999. James Colman Fine Art held an eightieth-birthday retro­spective in 1996, a memorial show in 2000.

Exhibitions

• RWS, RI, NSA, STISA
• East Cornwall Society of Artists
• The Plymouth Society of Artists
• The Studio, The Quay, Looe
• James Colman Fine Art Retrospective 1999, and Memorial Exhibition 2000