Suzie Hamlin tells us about a recent exhibition she put on celebrating the work of Leeds born Jewish artist Philip Naviasky, who lived in her house before her.
Philip Naviasky was born in 1894 in Leeds to Polish-Jewish parents who fled after Russia’s invasion of Poland. He commenced his artistic journey at the Leeds School of Art before being accepted into the prestigious Royal Academy Schools at the remarkable age of 18, the youngest ever to do so up until that point, though not since. Notably, he received a Royal Exhibition award from the Board of Education for his three-year tenure at the Royal College of Art. Despite his time in London, Naviasky loved Leeds and returned to the city, where he remained until his death in 1983.
In 1996, Suzie Hamlin came to live in what was Naviasky’s home until his death, and with her husband and some other enthusiasts, decided to ensure the artist received the recognition he was due. Suzie has undertaken several methods to do this, most notably by putting on ten-day exhibition of Naviasky’s work at Left Bank gallery, which was a smashing success.
Suzie explained how she went about setting up the show and raising awareness: “We decided that because we’re all very artistic and love the fact that we live in this house, we would recognise this. Many years ago, we met Helen Frei. Her dad was Naviasky’s GP and she had loads of his paintings in the attic. I think he paid for some of his medical care in paintings. We’ve also bought some, the first two we bought for half price because we live in his house. And then my husband works for charity and one of his paintings came in, which has our address on the back, so we have that one. We also went on Antique’s Roadshow when it was at Roundhay last summer and publicised him through that.” Suzie’s work has born fruit and on 24th May a blue plaque was put up at the house to commemorate the artist.
Naviasky’s artistic prowess was evident in his extensive work throughout the landscapes of Yorkshire, and the many famous portraits he produced such as those of Lord Nuffield, Ramsey MacDonald, and Winston Churchill. However, it wasn’t only famous figures which captured the artist’s interest: “He was prolific. He would tend to mainly paint women and children, and he would stop people in the street and ask to paint them.”
Like many artists, Naviasky failed to achieve the fame he was due during his lifetime, and remains relatively unknown to this day, even in Leeds: “He was known to have said that it was as hard as walking through a wall as it was to be an artist in Leeds, because Leeds doesn’t celebrate its artists.” Through her work in bringing Naviasky to public awareness, Suzie has hopefully proved this notion wrong.
