My father, the artist David Lublinski, who has died aged 85, sculpted in stone, terracotta and papier-mâché, and drew in ink.
He exhibited in the UK, Finland and Germany, and paintings in British collections included gifts to Harrow, Hertford College, Oxford, and Exeter University, a purchase by St Edmund Hall, Oxford, and a commission by Crediton parish church in Devon. His unique painting style involved days of meticulous drawing followed by months of brushwork, applying thin oil glazes alternating with razor scratches in the dried paint, creating a vibrant depth of colour and intriguing texture. The same image sometimes inspired several versions.
Born in Woking to Conrad Samuel, a company director, magistrate and local councillor who survived four campaigns on the Western Front, and his wife Babs (nee Shuffrey), a nurse in the first world war, David was the youngest grandson of the Oxford artist J Allen Shuffrey. Regarded as a misfit at Harrow, he chose the Daily Worker as his newspaper.
Following national service in Germany, David read physics at Hertford College, Oxford, and became treasurer of the University sculpture club. On graduation, he worked in industry on early transistorised colour TV, speed cameras and cruise control. He began evening classes at Kingston School of Art where he met Margot Stewart, whom he married in 1958, and who encouraged him to pursue a full-time art course. As his artist’s name, David used the original surname of his paternal grandfather, Max Lublinski.
After studying at Kingston until the early 60s, David moved with Margot to the west country, settling in 1964 in Tedburn St Mary, near Exeter, on a small-holding where they had a studio, various animals and four children.
Pursuing their passion for self-sufficiency, the couple created an extensive vegetable garden, orchard and woodland. David recorded rainfall, air and compost temperature, conducting horticultural experiments. He even gained external employment as a dry-stone waller.
In the 1970s, he completed a PGCE at Exeter University. Quickly discovering comprehensive school teaching was not for him, he became instead an inspiring adult education art tutor. For more than two decades Tedburn Art Group in particular benefited from his expertise. He was also chair of the parent staff association of Queen Elizabeth school, Crediton.
Of his exhibition in Leicester in 1972 the Guardian said: “His interest in figures is visual rather than emotional. Although he paints with thin layer of paint after thin layer, the whole thing appears quite spontaneous.”
He composed crosswords, co-designed Xy-Rixa, a form of three-dimensional chess, chaired the Crediton Writers’ Circle, wrote and performed in amateur drama groups, and taught himself to play the piano. He always took pride in his family’s achievements and was encouraging of their musicality. His Eeyore-ish dry wit is especially remembered.
His daughter Rebecca died in 2005. He is survived by Margot and his children, Christoffer, Rachel and me, and grandchildren, Hannah and Grace.
