Simeon Stafford British, b. 1956

Simeon Stafford was born in 1956, in Dukinfield, a small northern town bordering the Pennines.

 

Stafford was introduced to L.S. Lowry after winning the Robert Owen School Award for Art and the Manchester News Portrait Award, who then became a friend of the family and encouraged him to study art.

 

In 1972 and 1973, he studied at Hyde College, and in 1974, became a professional artist and exhibited his work in mixed exhibitions throughout the north of England and London. His work at this time reflected the gritty northern landscape and characters in what has been called a primitive style. In 1996, Stafford moved to Cornwall, where he met the artists Sir Terry Frost and Patrick Heron; their colour and light had a great impact on him.

 

Simeon Stafford continues to have successful exhibitions in London and Cornwall. In 2001, his work was included in the Royal Academy Summer exhibition.

 

While Stafford’s paintings share a visual simplicity with Lowry’s iconic northern street scenes, his reference points are far removed from the industrial backgrounds of where they both grew up. Conversely, his relocation to Cornwall gave Stafford’s work a defining, alternative mood – both liberated from the muggy northern towns whilst also painting in recognition of Lowry’s bustling crowds. Furthermore, it was in Cornwall where he met and was influenced by notable St. Ives painters such as Sir Terry Frost and Patrick Heron. Stafford’s work can be seen as the confluence of Lowry’s simple and naive approach coupled with the vibrancy and jocularity of the Cornish artists.

 

Aged 14, Stafford won the Robert Owen Schools Award for Art and also the Manchester Evening News’s Portrait Award.

 

Private collections include His Majesty the King and Tony Blair.