James Henry Cecil Collins

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

(23 March 1908 – 4 June 1989) was an English painter and printmaker, originally associated with the

Surrealist Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to ...

movement.

Life and works

Collins was born in Plymouth and worked first as a mechanic at a firm based in Devonport. From 1924 to 1927 he attended Plymouth School of Art. In 1927 he won a scholarship to the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design university in the United Kingdom. It o ...

where he won the

William Rothenstein Sir William Rothenstein (29 January 1872 – 14 February 1945) was an English painter, printmaker, draughtsman, lecturer, and writer on art. Emerging during the early 1890s, Rothenstein continued to make art right up until his death. Though he c ...

Life Drawing Prize. From 1951 to 1975 he taught at the

Central School of Art The Central School of Art and Design was a public school of fine and applied arts in London, England. It offered foundation and degree level courses. It was established in 1896 by the London County Council as the Central School of Arts and Cr ...

. Later, one of his pupils was

Ginger Gilmour Ginger Gilmour (born Virginia Hasenbein; January 19, 1949) is an American artist, sculptor, and author. Between 1975 and 1990, she was married to Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour. Since their divorce, she has lived in England. Personal life ...

. Collins was awarded an

in June 1979. BBC Radio ran a programme about him in 1981 in the ''Conversations with Artists'' series, with

Edward Lucie-Smith John Edward McKenzie Lucie-Smith (born 27 February 1933), known as Edward Lucie-Smith, is a Jamaican-born English writer, poet, art critic, curator and broadcaster. He has been highly prolific in these fields, writing or editing over a hundred ...

. In 1984 BBC TV showed a 30-minute documentary devoted to Collins, 'Fools and Angels', in the 'One Pair of Eyes' series. A retrospective exhibition of his prints was held at the

Tate Gallery Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...

in 1981. A retrospective of his paintings took place (before Collins died) in 1989. He was buried on the western side of

Highgate Cemetery Highgate Cemetery is a place of burial in north London, England. There are approximately 170,000 people buried in around 53,000 graves across the West and East Cemeteries. Highgate Cemetery is notable both for some of the people buried there as ...

. His widow

Elisabeth Collins Elisabeth Ward Collins (née Ramsden, 31 October 1904 – 17 January 2000), was a British painter and sculptor. Biography Collins was born and brought up in Halifax in Yorkshire where her father was the editor, and owner, of a local n ...

died in 2000 and, in 2008, 250 of Collins' paintings worth £1 million were given to museums and galleries in the UK. In honour of the centenary of his birth, an exhibition of Collins' work took place at

Tate Britain Tate Britain, known from 1897 to 1932 as the National Gallery of British Art and from 1932 to 2000 as the Tate Gallery, is an art museum on Millbank in the City of Westminster in London, England. It is part of the Tate network of galleries in ...

in Autumn 2008.

Exhibitions

* 1935 - Bloomsbury Gallery, London, England * 1936 -

International Surrealist Exhibition The International Surrealist Exhibition was held from 11 June to 4 July 1936 at the New Burlington Galleries, near Savile Row in London's Mayfair, England. Organisers The exhibition was organised by committees from England, France, Belgium, Sca ...

New Burlington Galleries The New Burlington Galleries was an art gallery at 5 Burlington Gardens, Mayfair, London. From 11 June to 4 July 1936, they held the '' International Surrealist Exhibition'', the first full exhibition of surrealist art in the UK. From 7 June to ...

, London, England * 1942 - Toledo Museum of Fine Art, US * 1948 - ''New Paintings by Cecil Collins'' -

Lefevre Gallery The Lefevre Gallery (or The Lefevre Galleries) was an art gallery in London, England, operated by Alex. Reid & Lefevre Ltd. The gallery was opened at 1a, King Street, St James's, in 1926, when rival art dealers Alexander Reid and Ernest Lefe ...

, London, England * 1950 - ''New Paintings'' - Heffer Gallery, Cambridge, England * 1951 - Leicester Galleries * 1953 - Society of Mural Painters * 1953 - Ashmolean Museum, Oxford * 1954 - Arts Council, London * 1956 - Leicester Galleries * 1959 - Whitechapel Gallery, London * 1961 - Gallery Zygos, Athens, Greece * 1964 - Carnegie International Exhibition, Pittsburgh, US * 1965 - Arthur Tooth & Sons * 1967 - Crane Kalman Gallery * 1971 - ''Britain's Contribution to Surrealism'' - Hamet Gallery, London, England * 1972 - ''Retrospective Exhibition. Drawings, Paintings, Watercolours, Gouaches and Paintings 1936-1968'' * 1981 - ''New Works'' -

Anthony d'Offay Georges Anthony d'Offay (born January 1940) is a British art dealer, collector and curator. His was born to a Seychellois father. Life and career Georges Anthony d'Offay was born in January 1940 in Sheffield to a French father. He began dealin ...

, London, England * 1981 - ''The Prints of Cecil Collins'' - Tate Gallery, London, England * 1983 - Plymouth Arts Centre * 1984 - Festival Gallery, Aldeburgh * 1988 - ''Recent Paintings'' -

, London, England * 1989 - Tate Gallery, London

Bibliography

* ''The Gates of Silence'' (Grey Walls Press, 1944) by Wrey Gardiner with drawings by Cecil Collins * ''The Vision of the Fool'' (Grey Walls Press, 1947) * ''Cecil Collins: Painter of Paradise'' (1979) by

Kathleen Raine Kathleen Jessie Raine CBE (14 June 1908 – 6 July 2003) was a British poet, critic, and scholar, writing in particular on William Blake, W. B. Yeats and Thomas Taylor. Known for her interest in various forms of spirituality, most prominently ...

* ''The Quest for the Great Happiness'' (1988) by William Anderson * ''In Celebration of Cecil Collins: Visionary Artist and Educator'' (2008) compiled and edited by Nomi Rowe * ''The Magic Mirror: Thoughts and Reflections on Cecil Collins'' (2010) by John Stewart Allitt * ''Meditations, Poems, Pages from a Sketch Book'', by Cecil Collins (Golgonooza Press, 1997) * ''The Vision of the Fool and other Writings'', by Cecil Collins, enlarged edition (Golgonooza Press, 2002) * ''Cecil Collins, The Artist as Writer and Image Maker'', by Brian Keeble (Golgonooza Press, 2009)

References

External links

*
Cecil Collins
at the Tate Gallery
Eye of the Heart. The paintings of Cecil Collins.
1978. Arts Council England film collection {{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Cecil 1908 births 1989 deaths Burials at Highgate Cemetery 20th-century English painters English male painters Alumni of the Royal College of Art Artists from Plymouth, Devon English printmakers 20th-century British printmakers Royal Academicians 20th-century English male artists