Christopher Fiddes
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Christopher Fiddes | |
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| Born | 1934 (age 91–92) Northampton, England |
| Education | Northampton Grammar School; Northampton School of Art |
| Occupations | Artist, teacher and art historian |
| Known for | Social history and documentary oil paintings |
| Notable work | Northern Ireland Series, 1972 |
Christopher John Ellis Fiddes (born Northampton 13 November 1934) is an English artist, muralist, designer of stained glass and book illustrator. He is also an expert art historian. He has enjoyed a long career as an artist, with prodigious output and driven by a strong belief in the value of traditional drawing and painting techniques that he feels have been largely lost in Post-Modern art movements and the 21st-century commercial art world.
Fiddes studied art at Northampton Art School from 1950 to 1954 and then gained an Art Teacher's Diploma at Leicester University. He did two years' National Service in the Northamptonshire Regiment of the British Army and spent time in Hong Kong. In 1957 he started teaching art at a Catholic boys' secondary school and then, in 1972, he became Head of Art at Northampton High School.
Historic preservation
In 1962 he co-founded the Northampton Civic Society with the historian Sir Gyles Isham and local architects and archivists, with the aim of preserving historic buildings from redevelopment. In 1965 he bought a listed house in the village of Cogenhoe and over the next 10 years restored it. His occupation of that house, which is now a listed building, is celebrated with a plaque.[1]
