Archibald Ziegler was born to Jewish-Lithuanian immigrant parents in Plaistow, London, England in 1903, studying at the Central School of Arts and Crafts, Royal Academy Schools and Royal College of Art. He first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1931, with further solo shows in many London galleries and was best known his for his landscapes, often of Hampstead Heath, painted in bright colours. He also produced mural paintings and designed stained glass windows.
Artist and teacher Archibald Ziegler was born to Jewish-Lithuanian immigrant parents in Plaistow, east London, England on 21 June 1903; his mother died when he was six and he was orphaned aged 14. He drew from an early age, working to support himself in a variety of jobs including assistant ship’s cook and as a saw maker, before studying at the Central School of Arts and Crafts under Anglo-Jewish painter, Bernard Meninsky, and then at the Royal Academy Schools. In 1927 Ziegler gained a senior scholarship to the Royal College of Art, in London where he studied under Sir William Rothenstein until 1930. Between 1926 and 1927 he produced drawings of workshops, workers and docks which were published in The Manchester Guardian and The Sunday Worker. He first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1931, with his first solo exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery in 1932. The show featured landscapes, drawings, and studies for wall decorations he had produced for the lecture hall at Toynbee Hall in the East End, representing allegories of the various educational activities of the institution, among them Sculpture, Music, Painting and Theatre. The frieze, located immediately beneath the ceiling, was so narrow that it was impossible to paint upright human figures on a sufficiently large scale, but Ziegler overcame this difficulty by arranging them in seated or reclining attitudes. Country Life noted that ‘the colour is very bright, and gives a cheerful aspect, with suggestions of the open air in summer, to a room which must have been rather dark and dull before’ (M. Chamot 1932, p. 672-673). The Times commented that ‘Decorative painting is to be judged in the first place by how it decorates, and the best tribute to the new panels by Archibald Ziegler […] is to say that […] they look as if they had been there all the time. […] Mr Ziegler has succeeded admirably in making his design continuous, in ‘story’ as well as in design’ (The Times 1932, p. 12).
Further London exhibition were presented at the Adams Gallery (1935), Wertheim Gallery (1937), Morley Gallery (1937), Leger Gallery (1938), Arcade Gallery (1946), and Ben Uri Gallery (including five solo shows from 1947–68), where a memorial exhibition was held in 1972. Referring to Ziegler’s 1947 Ben Uri exhibition, the Jewish Chronicle noted that ‘in these days of abstruse private philosophies and obsessions, it is a joy to see work so directly and so vigorously expressed. Especially memorable is an aspect of the Place de l’Odéon – this is a work of great charm, as are his other architectural studies of Paris’. The art critic also singled out a large painting of Hampstead Heath and concluded that ‘throughout the show Ziegler employs his happy instinct for colour harmonies with unerring precision’ (A.K.S. 1947, p. 17). In a review of Ziegler’s exhibition of Israeli landscapes at Ben Uri in 1950, The Tribune praised the artist’s bright colours which conveyed the clear light and the high tones of the Mediterranean scene, adding that ‘Most striking of all are his trees. […] Cedar, cypress, orange: Mr. Ziegler has captured them all, and captured them with an almost human personality and individuality – each as different from the rest of its species as every human being is different from all other human beings’ (Tribune 1950, p. 8).
Further affirming his Jewish heritage, in 1953 Ziegler was commissioned to design two stained glass memorial windows for the Walthamstow and Leyton Synagogue in east London. He was also elected a member of the Ben Uri Council, serving on the Art Committee in the 1950–60s, and was Vice-President in 1947–48. He often gave art appreciation courses and lectures at Ben Uri and at other institutions, such as the Marylebone Literary Institute and the International Arts Centre; among the topics were the french painters, Braque and Rouault (1946); 'Whitechapel Boy', Mark Gertler (1949) and the sculpture of Jewish American émigré, Jacob Epstein (1950). Following the tragic early death of his wife and son, Ziegler's Hampstead home became particularly important and he painted many pictures of both the local streets and the Heath, often producing preparatory sketches in pen and wash. In his latter years, he carried out many portrait sculpture commissions. Ziegler also taught drawing and painting at St Martin’s School of Art and art history at Morley College for adult education and for the Worker's Educational Association (WEA). An associate of the Royal College of Art, he was the first living artist to have a retrospective exhibition at Kenwood House, close to his Hampstead home.
Archibald Ziegler died in London, England in 1971. His work is in UK public collections including the Ben Uri Collection, London Borough of Camden, Royal Free Hospital, Hampstead and Victoria & Albert museum. A posthumous retrospective was held at Burgh House & Hampstead Museum in 2018. His daughter is the artist, Dahlia Ziegler.
Archibald Ziegler in the Ben Uri collection
Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Archibald Ziegler]
Publications related to [Archibald Ziegler] in the Ben Uri Library