ADDYMAN, John Hirst

1929 - 2006

John Hirst Addyman was born Wallasey, Cheshire on 10 October 1929, only child of John [Jack] Hirst Addyman (4 June 1904-24 April 1969), leather merchant, and his wife Emma née Hughes (27 June 1898-16 March 1986), who married at West Derby, Lancashire in 1927. In 1939, the Addymans were living at Crescent View, Leasowe Road, Wallasey, Cheshire when young John entered Wallasey Grammar School but was evacuated to North Wales during the Second World War and studied at Wallasey School of Art 1945-1949, where the work of the war artists and English graphics were influential. He then studied at the Royal College of Art 1949-1952, his teachers included John Nash, Edward Bawden and John Minton (1917-1957). He married at Christ Church, Moreton, Cheshire in 1950, fellow student Madeline Southern, Madeline Addyman. Addyman's father had set up shop in Port Talbot where John and his wife Madeline lived whilst John taught part-time at Swansea College of Art and, whilst looking for a permanent post, began to be noted for his depictions of the craggy Welsh coastline shown in the 'Daily Express Young Artists Exhibition'. His teaching breakthrough came with a move to Colchester, Essex in 1955, joining the staff of the local School of Art under John Scorror O'Connor. An artist whose favourite medium was watercolour, but he was adept in many other media, notably ceramics with Wales and Suffolk his inspirations. At Colchester he worked with John Nash at Abingdon Summer School and Flatford Mill Centre and in 1958 had the first of three solo shows at the Minories, Colchester, presided over by Edward Montgomery O'Rorke Dickey (1894-1977). He had been taught piano by a choir mistress in Port Talbot and at Colchester set up of the Colchester Jazz Club and jazz remained a developing life's interest. In 1967 he settled in Sudbury, Suffolk, where he was invited to join the management committee of Gainsborough's House Gallery and was important in the development of its print workshop. John continued his teaching career by joining the art history department at University of Essex, later acting as a visiting lecturer at Nottingham (Trent Polytechnic), Norwich School of Art and in several secondary schools. Addyman was also producing some of his best pictures based on the Essex/Suffolk border and exhibited at the Ipswich Art Club in 1980 'Quarry Full' he also exhibited at the Royal Academy. In 1989, together with his wife and two of his four children, moved to West Wales, taking a farm at Bridell which, as well giving him studio space, made workshops and events such as the 1989 Proteus exhibition. He later gave up the farm and settled in Narberth, Pembrokeshire. John Hirst Addyman died at Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire on 20 July 2006.
Website: www.johnaddyman.co.uk

Royal Academy Exhibits
from Burnt Heath Cottage, Ardleigh, Colchester, Essex
1960 1019 Spring Wood
from 1 Meadow Lane, Sudbury, Suffolk
1970 543 Welsh Coast, Porthcawl
1980 854 River Reflection
         859 Shadow over Landscape, Boxford
         888 Welsh Rocks
1981 108 Undiscovered Coastline, S. Wales
         118 Riverbank
1987 539 Sudbury Meadow - watercolour

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Works by This Artist