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I am really intrigued and drawn to this post-modern social realist painting by the
Welsh artist Claudia Williams.
Williams was born in Surrey in 1933 and in 1949 she entered the National Exhibition
of Children's Art at the Royal Institute Galleries. Over 46,000 children entered
the competition and the judges, headed by John Rothenstein (Director of The Tate Gallery)
and Herbert Read (President of the Society for Education Through Art), were unanimous
in their decision to give the principal award to Claudia Williams.
In 1984, she and her artist husband Gwilym Prichard, sold their home in Snowdonia
and headed across Europe by car, for the island of Skiathos where they had the opportunity
to look after a friend's dog, with free accommodation for the winter. After subsequently
settling for a time in France, in 2001 they returned to Tenby.
Family life is an enduring theme for Claudia Williams. Her paintings are based on
human relationships and figures in close proximity. She recognises and explores the
limitations imposed by domestic circumstances and the domestic daily routines of women
and children provide an opportunity for paintings that focus on social interaction.
Williams has a particular sensibility towards the human condition which is combined
with a sense of design, sensitive handling of colour and confident figure drawing.
All this is evident in the painting illustrated here Children Reading, estimate
£500-700 and to be sold on 23 April 2009 in Exeter.
Oil painting by Claudia Williams. Estimate £500-700.
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Daniel Goddard's Blog
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Fri, 03 Apr 2009 13:08:45 GMT.
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 | Daniel Goddard BA(Hons) ASFAV
Daniel Goddard is a Director of Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood. He is also Head of Picture Department.
Daniel Goddard attended The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and the US Military Academy at West Point and in 1982 was commissioned into the Queen's Regiment serving in Northern Ireland, The Falklands, Canada and the UK.
In 1988, he travelled to Auckland, New Zealand, to play rugby and attended The Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea. On his return to the family home in East Devon, Daniel joined Lawrence's in Crewkerne (Somerset) as a porter and progressed to valuation and rostrum work.
In 1996, Daniel joined Bearne's to head the Works of Art Department and, having in the meantime gained an Open University degree in Art History and Humanities, became Head of the Picture Department. He continues to run this busy department in the merged firm of Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood.
Daniel Goddard has been a director of the firm since 1999 and is an experienced valuer with a broad range of knowledge and specialist expertise in paintings.
He has recently catalogued and organised two major sales of paintings by Robert Lenkiewicz (1941-2002), which raised in excess of £3 million.
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