Barry Daniels was a member of British art movement in the mid-20th century.
Daniels attended the Slade School of Art where he was taught by William Coldstream and studied alongside Graham Sutherland, Lucien Freud, Michael Andrews, Henry Moore, Paula Rego, Phillip Sutton, Michael Andrews and Bernard Cohen. While at the Slade, Daniels won the Wilson Steer Prize for landscape painting and the Abbey Minor Scholarship from the British School at Rome - both in 1953 - the Boise Scholarship in 1954 and the French Government Scholarship in 1958.
His work was exhibited at both the ICA’s ‘Six Young Painters’ and ‘London Group’ shows in 1956, at Roland & Delbanco from 1956-'58 and at Fulham Gallery in the 1960s. In 1959 his work was part of a major Abstract Impressionism exhibition along with Cohen, De Stael, Sam Francis, Andre Masson and Helen Frankenthaler.
In 1958 as part of a group of young artists, poets, journalists and designers, Daniels escaped the mayhem of the Colony Rooms in London to begin an artist's community in a decrepid stately home in Hertfordshire, Marden Hill. This became a cultural hub for a generation of free spirits including Ted Hughes, Sylvia Plath, Pam Gems, Michael White, Robyn Denny and Michael Andrews, with some staying for extended period while others drifted.
Into the '60s a stream of bohemians and musicians drifted in to join events at Marden Hill including Donavan, Long John Baldry, Paul Kossoff and various members of Traffic. Mick Jagger, while studying at the LSE, and Jimi Hendrix visited the house and Rod Stewart spent a summer there, where he is said to have written 'Maggie May' and first met Ronnie Woods. Fashion designer Ossie Clark had attended parties and Ken Russell wanted to use the house as the location for 'Women in Love' but they group did not want to draw attention to their home.
