Plowman, Wilf

“No. 4 is Airborne” Oil on canvas, 24 x 30 inches, Sighed & Dated 1990

“No. 4 is Airborne” Oil on canvas, 24 x 30 inches, Sighed & Dated 1990
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British, (1929-2015)

Wilf Plowman attended the Central School of Art in London and the Academie des Beaux Arts in Paris. After working for many years as a graphic designer, illustrator and art director, he moved to Devon in 1967 to concentrate on his painting. He spent two years as an art lecturer at the South Devon Art and Technology College in Newton Abbot and Torquay, then 22 years as a part-time art lecturer in Exeter.

Despite his teaching commitments, his artistic output has been prolific and the Royal Family is a favourite subject. The Royal Family at Work and at Play depicts the Queen, Prince Philip in his carriage, Prince Charles playing polo and Princess Anne riding. They are also shown engaged in public duties — Trooping the Colour, laying wreaths at the Cenotaph, and Prince Charles and Princess Diana meeting the ruler of Kuwait, Sheik Saad-Al-Saba.

Plowman said: “I was commissioned by Sheik Saad-Al-Saba to do a painting for him. The equerry to the Sheik called me from Kuwait. I could hardly believe it. He said the Sheik would be interested in seeing paintings I had done with the possibility of doing a portrait of himself and his wife. He had seen a photograph of the painting of the Royal Family which included him. I was just about to go out to Kuwait when it got invaded, so that put an end to that episode. Prince Philip bought a painting of himself driving a coach. He invited me to Buckingham Palace and decided he wanted to buy it. I think I must have inferred I could have got a bit more for the painting, but I wasn’t worried because it was a privilege.”

A confirmed Royalist, Mr. Plowman’s work has often won royal approval — Prince Philip ordered a painting which showed him in a carriage-driving contest, while Princess Anne bought one of herself riding.

“Members of the Royal Family have often written to me asking if I could bring this or that picture along to the Palace. They have stressed that I don’t have to travel up myself. Prince Charles particularly liked one of himself fishing.”