David Hunter Heathcote was born in
London on 6 July 1931. He studied at
Canterbury College of Art and the
Slade School of Art during the late 1950s. Heathcote then worked for twenty years in Zimbabwe and Nigeria, an experience that would contribute significantly to his creative output. He took up a teaching post in
Zimbabwe in 1959 and had his first one-person show in
Harare in 1967. From 1967 to 1979 he was Head of Art History at
Ahmadu Bello University. He returned to England and settled in
Canterbury in 1979, working on his own paintings for several years. He then obtained a part-time post at
Christ Church College, later becoming a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Art and Design. He retired from the college in 1996 but continued to practice as an artist. Heathcote's PhD dissertation on The Embroidery of Hausa Dress is deposited in the archives of the
School of Oriental and African Studies in London, along with other related material. During the 1960s and 1970s, Heathcote was a major collector of
Hausa artifacts, including textiles, costume and leatherwork. He also undertook ground-breaking research into Hausa costume, including the embroidery of Hausa dress. He mounted a full-scale Hausa exhibition at the
Commonwealth Institute in 1976, writing the catalogue and creating a documentary film. The
British Museum subsequently acquired many of the objects from the exhibition, which was also covered by the BBC's African Service. The British Museum's online catalogue lists some 391 objects associated with Heathcote. Heathcote's artworks are in the
Slade School of Art, the
University of Kent and other public and private collections. Heathcote died at the age of 94 on 23 November 2025. ==Exhibitions==