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| Robert Buhler Portrait of John Davenport 1960 oil on board (diploma work) Royal Academy of Arts, London |
"The literary critic and poet John Davenport was a close friend of Buhler and one of his favourite sitters. Buhler exhibited four portraits of Davenport at the Royal Academy – in 1949, 1951, 1952 and this painting, his Diploma Work in 1960. In 1959 Buhler made the following assertion: 'The spacing around the sitter's head is almost as important as the head itself. You only have to look at any portrait by Rembrandt, Velazquez or Goya – or Piet Mondrian – to realize this. If you don't get the spacing right your portrait looks like a cinema poster."
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| Patrick Symons Still-life with Henbane ca. 1960 oil on canvas (diploma work) Royal Academy of Arts, London |
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| Henry Carr Portrait of Mrs Henry Carr 1961 oil on canvas (diploma work) Royal Academy of Arts, London |
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| L.S. Lowry Station Approach 1962 oil on board (diploma work) Royal Academy of Arts, London |
"Lowry's Diploma painting depicts the frenetic movement of pedestrians and cars around Exchange Station in Manchester's city centre. The crowded street is seen from a high viewpoint, reducing the figures to Lowry's characteristic black silhouettes with daubs of muted colour. Although he more frequently depicted such figures amongst the factories and terraced streets of industrial areas, the artist painted at least two views of the approach to this station. Fond of saying 'I only paint what I see, you know,' Lowry nevertheless habitually painted from memory or imagination. In this case, he took particular liberties with the station facade and with the statue of Oliver Cromwell which stood at the junction. In the background the sky is tinged with smokey grey, almost obscuring landmarks such as the tower of Stangeways Prison on the right. Exchange Station was built in 1884 but closed in 1969 and has since been demolished."
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| Robert Medley The Rough Field 1962 oil on canvas (diploma work) Royal Academy of Arts, London |
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| Rodney Burn Mother and Child ca. 1962 oil on canvas (diploma work) Royal Academy of Arts, London |
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| Morris Kestelman Composition 1963 oil on canvas (diploma work) Royal Academy of Arts, London |
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| Raymond Cowern The Wilderness, Parnham, Dorset 1963 watercolor and gouache on paper (diploma work) Royal Academy of Arts, London |
"This watercolour was painted near the Tudor mansion of Parnham House in Dorset at a time when the estate had fallen into disuse. Although Raymond Cowern's chief reputation was as an etcher and engraver, he also produced many drawings and watercolours which, like this one, were unrelated to his printmaking activities. Cowern attended Birmingham Central School of Art, two years later winning a scholarship to the Royal College of Art in London. During the 1930s he worked as a draughtsman for an archaeological expedition in Egypt, making drawings and etchings of his surroundings in his spare time. Cowern's career was interrupted by the Second World War, as he was employed painting camouflage but never succeeded in becoming an official war artist. After the war he built a successful career as a teacher, and also developed a greater interest in painting."
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| John Stanton Ward The Twins and Jack in the Studio ca. 1964 oil on canvas (diploma work) Royal Academy of Arts, London |
"By presenting this view of his studio, Ward shows how he desired to be perceived – a family man, an important portraitist and a collector of curiosities."
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| William Holford Design for Library, University of Kent 1964 watercolor on paper (diploma work) Royal Academy of Arts, London |
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| Tristram Hillier Ligneyrac, Corrèze 1964 oil on canvas (diploma work) Royal Academy of Arts, London |
"Hillier was born in Peking, where his father was manager of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank. He abandoned his study of economics at Christ's College, Cambridge to enroll at the Slade School of Fine Arts in 1926. Moving to France in 1927 Hillier met many of the leading abstract painters of the day. Through his membership in the avant-garde Unit One Group in the 1930s he developed close links to the English Surrealist movement. After the Second World War the artist settled in rural Somerset and for the rest of his career worked in a more representational style. However, he like to spend part of each year in France, Spain or Portugal, and the early influence of de Chirico lingers in the mysterious stillness of the unpeopled architectural landscapes his travels inspired."
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| Carel Weight The Silence 1965 oil on board (diploma work) Royal Academy of Arts, London |
"Set in his garden in Wandsworth, Carel Weight's painting depicts three people observing the two minutes silence on Remembrance Sunday. The artist explained that he always found this silence very eerie, when everything went quiet except sounds like a dog barking. He wished to convey his belief that although people join to perform identical rituals, they are essentially solitary. To emphasise this, the three figures never met and were painted separately."
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| William Roberts Combat ca. 1966 oil on canvas (diploma work) Royal Academy of Arts, London |
"The angular yet solid figures in Combat are outlined in black, belying Roberts's interest in both Cubism and poster design. Dynamism is created by the foreshortening of the battling bodies and diagonal movements of their limbs and cudgels. Sand, sea and sky are flattened to form stylised horizontal bands against which the action takes place."
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| William Gillies Still Life with Spider Plant 1966 oil on canvas (diploma work) Royal Academy of Arts, London |
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| Phillip King Span 1967 steel (diploma work) Royal Academy of Arts, London |
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| Gertrude Hermes Waterfall 1967 linocut (diploma work) Royal Academy of Arts, London |
"Gertrude Hermes was elected an associate of the Royal Academy in 1963 (making her the first female Associate Engraver), and as a Royal Academician in 1971. Waterfall, which was inspired by a visit to North Wales, was the Diploma Work she presented to the Academy. It was presumably chosen as one of her most recent prints. Her early works were wood-engravings, a medium she taught herself in the 1920s while studying with Leon Underwood. After World War II, Hermes grew 'heartily sick of black-and-white' and began to make colour linocuts. By the time of her election as an Academician she had essentially abandoned wood-engraving for linocuts altogether."
– quoted texts adapted from Royal Academy notes
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| Bernard Dunstan The Sitting Room ca. 1968 oil on board (diploma work) Royal Academy of Arts, London |
– quoted texts adapted from Royal Academy notes