Donald Towner's Hampstead: An Artist's Lifelong Vision of London's Transformation
A major new exhibition opening at Burgh House celebrates the remarkable artistic legacy of Donald Towner, a painter who spent six decades capturing the changing face of Hampstead and London during the 20th century. Amongst the Trees and Terraces: Donald Towner (1903–1985) presents a comprehensive overview of the artist's work spanning from the interwar period through the postwar years, offering visitors a unique perspective on a London in transition.
From Eastbourne Countryside to London Streets
Born in Eastbourne in 1903, Towner grew up surrounded by natural beauty that would profoundly influence his artistic sensibilities. He recalled childhood memories of "a wide stretch of countryside with sea beyond curving in a great bay towards Hastings" and gardens "intersected by innumerable streams where purple-loosestrife grew." His early artistic attempts began at age five when he created his first painting using melted wax chalks to capture poppies growing in cornfields.
Towner's formal artistic education began at the Eastbourne School of Art, where he met fellow artist Eric Ravilious. The two would later share accommodations at the Royal College of Art, where Towner transitioned from watercolors to oils and from rural to urban subjects. "We tramped the Downs and spent long holidays together, always with our watercolors," Towner remembered. "Here began my training of hand and eye."
Finding Home in Hampstead
After graduating, Towner initially worked from a studio in Mornington Crescent before a letter from his mother prompted a life-changing move. "She had heard of a little village outside London called Hampstead, which sounded nice," he wrote. In 1938, he purchased No 4 Holly Hill for £1,750 and established a studio on Heath Street, where cartoonist David Low worked on the floor below.
Towner's Hampstead paintings reveal an artist deeply engaged with his surroundings. "I enjoyed this enormously, but the difficulty was to find a secluded spot away from people and traffic, where there was a good subject," he noted. His solution was innovative: "I used to get permission to paint from roof tops and other inaccessible places such as windows of empty buildings." This approach resulted in remarkable urban scenes, including views of Covent Garden Market painted from the National Sporting Club window.
Gardens, Commissions, and Community
When his mother found the steps at Holly Hill challenging, they moved to Church Row, where Towner would remain until his death in 1985. His back garden featured a magnolia tree he considered removing until a visit to Sissinghurst, where Vita Sackville-West advised: "One must never destroy a magnolia." The well-tended garden with its thriving pear trees became the subject of numerous paintings.
Towner's commissions often came from unexpected sources. For years, he purchased bread from Louis's Patisserie on Heath Street until one morning the proprietor asked: "Will you paint me a picture?" The resulting composite painting combined two earlier works depicting the Vale of Health pond and adjoining Heath scenes, complete with added anglers, to create a large-scale Hampstead panorama that filled the shop wall.
Artistic Philosophy and Legacy
In his 1970s autobiography, written during "winter evenings or when the daylight was too poor in my studio for me to paint," Towner reflected on the dramatic changes of the 20th century. He observed that while painting styles underwent "innumerable changes of style, with one 'ism' following another," the fundamental elements of nature remained constant.
"The sweep of the Downs, the green water meadows and the sea and the sky remain the same as ever," he wrote. "While the great pulse-beat of nature – spring, summer, autumn and winter are constant in the changes they bring to earth – the bud, the leaf, the fall of the leaf and the bare bough. Such things are eternal."
The exhibition Amongst the Trees and Terraces: Donald Towner (1903-1985) runs from March 5 through December 13 at Burgh House, New End Square, NW3 1LT. The gallery is open Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Sunday from 10am to 4pm with free admission.
