He played an important role in the establishment of the University of Leeds Department of Fine Art[1] and was Principal of the Byam Shaw School of Drawing and Painting from 1962-1969.
[2] His influential book Basic Design: The Dynamics of Visual Form (1964) reached a wide international audience and remains in print.
At the RCA he was taught by Malcolm Osborne, Robert Austin and Artists' International Association (AIA) members Barnett Freedman and Percy Horton.
Health problems made him resign from his teaching position as an Art Master at King Edward VII Grammar School, Sheffield in 1941 and to be granted a leave of absence from the University of Leeds in 1952.
The trust was chaired by painter Carel Weight, and aimed to provide financial support to his family until Daniel, the youngest child, reached school age.
[3] De Sausmarez played an active role in the Artists' International Association (AIA) during the war, when it supported leftist and antifascist causes.
[9] He served on AIA committees and contributed to the association's post-war work to promote the importance of art through travelling exhibitions, affordable prints and a scheme creating murals in schools, libraries and hospitals.
[13][14][15] De Sausmarez's first teaching position was as Art Master at King Edward VII Grammar School, Sheffield, in November 1939.
[16] In 1950 he was appointed as lecturer of Fine Art at the University of Leeds, his application for the position was supported by fellow artists Percy Horton, Gilbert Spencer and William Coldstream.
[3] In July 1952 de Sausmarez visited Makerere College in Uganda at the request of the Inter-University Council for Higher Education in the Colonies.
[22] De Sausmarez taught the Summer School alongside colleagues, including fellow RCA graduate, artist and educator Harry Thubron.
[22] 'Basic Design', inspired by Bauhaus education principles, played a vital role in revolutionising art school teaching in Britain in the 1950s and 1960s.
[26] De Sausmarez's close colleague Harry Thubron developed his Basic Design Course partly at the North Riding Summer Schools they taught together in Scarborough.
The course was documented by painter and filmmaker John Jones, the resulting 30 minute film Drawing with the Figure (1963) includes commentary by Thubron and a soundtrack of improvised jazz.
[2] As principal of Byam Shaw, de Sausmarez championed the importance of talent over the entrance requirements set by the local authority when choosing potential students.
[29] The designer and inventor James Dyson studied at Byam Shaw, choosing the school because of its excellent reputation under de Sausmarez's leadership.
He drew influence from Paul Cézanne, Jacques Villon and Nicolas Poussin, and had a love of abstract art and a gift for close observation which can be seen in many of his landscapes and still lifes.
[11] While a student in 1935, de Sausmarez completed a mural for the Children's Room at Kensal Rise Library, London[3] with fellow Willesden Polytechnic School of Art pupil Dudley Holland.
[42] In 1935 he exhibited for the first time with the Artists' International Association (AIA) and in 1937, Bromley Little Theatre commissioned him to design costumes and sets for their production of Elroy Flecker's Hassan.
The aftermath of World War II had left Britain "bruised" and this vulnerability was demonstrated in his painting showing a fragile landscape of battered old houses.
[45] Several of de Sausmarez's paintings were shown and sold at Pictures for Schools exhibitions,[46] a Society for Education through Art (SEA) scheme founded in 1947 by artist and educationalist Nan Youngman.
The exhibitions took place annually in London and displayed works by contemporary British artists for sale to educational buyers and local authorities.
[43] De Sausmarez built an expansive network of professional connections and was a crucial figure in the circle of artists, thinkers and groups that informed the cultural life of post-war Britain.
Artist Percy Horton taught de Sausmarez at RCA and wrote a letter of recommendation for his application to the University of Leeds in 1949.
[51] Riley's introduction to Futurist painting involved discussions and analyses with de Sausmarez while he was preparing a series of lectures for the Royal College of Art.
[50] De Sausmarez and Riley began an intense romantic relationship in 1959[52] and spent the summer of 1960 together painting in Italy where they visited the Venice Biennale.
[50] When the relationship ended in autumn of the same year, Riley suffered a personal and artistic crisis, creating paintings that would lead to the black and white Op Art works, such as Kiss (1961).
Exhibiting artists included David Hockney, Carel Weight, Terry Frost, Hubert Dalwood, Ben Nicholson, Henry Moore, John Hoyland, Prunella Clough, Lynn Chadwick, Patrick Heron, William Scott, Peter Sedgley and Bridget Riley.
The lectures continued annually until 1990 and speakers included Germaine Greer, Melvyn Braggart historian Professor Griselda Pollock and Basic Design advocate Richard Hamilton.
[11] James Dyson gave a speech at the exhibition's opening event in which he spoke about de Sausmarez's great artistic influence on him and his career.