Peter Duffield (1945-2024)

Peter Duffield was a self-taught artist (1945-2024). He developed his craft while working as a boat builder in both the Norfolk Broads and Brixham. He spent twenty years, from 1961, in the boat building trade in Devon. His early work comprised of local landscape and coastal scenes, which sold successfully in galleries both Torbay and East Devon.

He became a professional artist in 1982.Critical acclaim enabled him to move to Staffordshire in 1987 where he opened and ran his own gallery. This venture provided him with diverse commissions and expanded his skills into restoration work.

Returning to Devon in 1997 his work attracted attention from galleries in London and the Southeast. These premier galleries included: Rye Fine Art, Hornchurch Fine Art, and the Marble Arch Gallery in London. As a consequence of this exposure his work sold in Europe, the United States and Japan.

Recently he has been drawn back to his roots by developing his craft in a new direction: marine art. Painting in the style of British maritime artists such as Cundall and Wilkinson, he evokes both the movement and timeless character of the sea. These challenging paintings have resulted in him having to adopt a more unhurried approach to painting, and one that he enjoyed all the more for that.

Currently Wildwood Arts is the only gallery in the South West exhibiting his work. Peter Duffield’s natural talent is a rare one as it makes you both think and feel about the vistas, whether on land or sea, that he presents this audience with.