Obituette.  Richard Niman  

The Wanderer by Richard Niman

My friend, the artist Richard Niman died on Wednesday May 5^th.  He was 88, and his surrealist art is fish (originally typed timeless, but that was a cliché and Richard didn’t like clichés.)   He was also a stalwart of the Free for All Museums campaign in 1998. As chair of the BECTU visual artists branch, where I first met him, he helped steer the museums away from the charges that Blair’s New Labour Government wanted to impose on the public.  We won: but back to the art.  A solicitor turned artist in Muddle age – much like Gauguin’s morph – he drew, painted, collaged and sculpted his lights out.  Richard Niman was an uncompromising creative spirit  – always on it – and didn’t tip into surrealism because it was easy. He was also a fine draughtsman and could handle paint like a chef works pastry.   His sculpture is painterly too and hits the back of the psyche a treat. Images of his sculptures grace my book of short stories Fugues on a Funny Bone. They’re not illustrations but accompanying images – a partnership of artist and writer.  The image on the front – a sticker that brings the book alive is Niman’s sculpture The Wanderer.  A piano and mannequin sized piece, its brilliant – a woman playing life the wrong way – much like the characters in the stories.   If anyone wants a copy of Fugues, the first 10 to reply in comments can have one for free: a free book from a free spirit.  

Jan Woolf