Richard Swaby Platt, ARCA was a painter, lithographer, author and an authority on classical music, especially English music of the 18th century.
He was born in Wandsworth in London in 1928 and studied art at the Royal College of Art where he received his diploma (ARCA). He lived in North London (Highgate, then Hampstead) and his subjects were often found in London or along the east coast of England. He had an acute eye for shape and colour, making intricate lithographs of people at work or at leisure from his pen and ink drawings before later moving towards abstraction.
He exhibited at the Royal Academy (1949-58), at the New English Art Club (1950-59), with The London Group, and at The Wilton Gallery. He also had a one-man show at The Leicester Galleries in 1956 and exhibited in the British Art 1900-1955 show which toured in Norway and Denmark in the 1950s, as well as regular showing at the Redfern Gallery in the 50s.
His work is held in a number of important public collections, including the Government Art Collection, The British Council, the Victoria & Albert Museum, and Bradford Museums & Galleries.
