Victor Linford
21st of May 1940 - 6th
of December 2002
Victor has left this world into
his next landscape
You can waste thousands of words
explaining Victor’s art,
But the images will remain to tell
the true story of craftsmanship, dedication and imagination.
Victor’s friends
and admirers have kindly established the Victor Linford Foundation
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Victor
was born 21st of May 1940 in Mile End London as Victor Harrison. Harrison was the name of
his adoption father. His natural father was unknown. When his mother left Mr.
Harrison, she changed her name to Linford so Victor became Victor
Linford-Harrison and later Victor Linford.
Victor
was sent to the Norwood Home for Jewish Children in 1951. One of his
schoolmasters recognized his artistic talent and later Victor was accepted to
the Camberwell school of arts and crafts. He received his National diploma in
Design in august 1960 with painting as his special subject.
After
some traveling to Sweden Victor moved to the Netherlands in order to work
there, marry and raise a family. After
some factory jobs, he succeeded in establishing himself as an artist. The first
discernable artistic period coincides with Victor’s stay in the local vicarage
with his in-laws in Spankeren, a small village near Arnhem. This period
started with rather dark drawings and paintings about social issues or even
parenthood mixed with commissioned portraits and landscapes. Halfway the
sixties Victor, his wife Mienke and son Christiaan moved to an old farmhouse
where he built a studio in the stables. Meanwhile his work had evolved to
rather fantastic landscapes, nudes and vivid (though not always flattering)
portraits. Two daughters, Lilian and Victoria were born and Victor diligently
worked on his exposure while showing a natural aptitude as a Bon Vivant as
well. He exhibited in many galleries in the Netherlands and in 1972 and 1973 traveled to Tel Aviv and
Haifa. Also in 1972 he moved to Nijmegen after his
divorce. Here the “Nijmegen” period
started where his landscapes became even more detailed and impressions of his
travels to France were absorbed
into his world. In 1974 Hein Steehouwer wrote his book
“Meta-Realisten”, launching
a group of seven artists as a new
painting “popgroup”. Victor was one of this group and there
were exhibitions, radio and television broadcasts. Victor worked in Nijmegen and traveled to France for the rest of
his career. The paintings became even more detailed and multicoloured. He was
working on a commission for a series of zodiac paintings when, at the 6th
of December 2002, driving home after a celebratory dinner with Victoria’s
family, his hart stopped and the “Victorian era” in the Netherlands
ended prematurely.
Christiaan
Linford
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Photo by William van Gool