Roland Arthur Frank Collins (17 September 1918 – 27 September 2015) was an English painter, specialising in

watercolour Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to t ...

s of English architecture. Unknown for most his lifetime, his work came to prominence after a successful exhibition at

Mascalls Gallery Mascalls Academy (formerly Mascalls School) is a co-educational secondary school and a sixth form with academy status located in Paddock Wood, Kent. Etymology The name comes from the nearby Mascalls corner. History The school opened in 1956 ...

Paddock Wood Paddock Wood is a town and civil parish in the borough of Tunbridge Wells in Kent, England, about southwest of Maidstone. At the 2001 Census it had a population of 8,263, falling marginally to 8,253 at the 2011 Census. Paddock Wood is a centre f ...

, Kent in 2012, which led to further exhibitions in

Mayfair Mayfair is an affluent area in the West End of London towards the eastern edge of Hyde Park, in the City of Westminster, between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane. It is one of the most expensive districts in the world. ...

Biography

Collins was born on 17 September 1918 in

Kensal Green Kensal Green is an area in north-west London. It lies mainly in the London Borough of Brent, with a small part to the south within Kensington and Chelsea. Kensal Green is located on the Harrow Road, about miles from Charing Cross. To the w ...

, London. He attended

Kilburn Grammar School Kilburn Grammar School was an English grammar school which opened in 1898 in Kilburn, north-west London. The school ceased to exist in 1967. History The school's history is detailed in a book by Richard E Brock. It was founded by the Rev. Dr. H ...

and studied art at

St Martin's College St Martin's College was a British higher education college with campuses in Lancaster, Ambleside and Carlisle, as well as sites in Whitehaven, Barrow and London. It provided undergraduate and postgraduate courses in the arts, humanities, bu ...

. Upon graduation he worked in advertising for the

London Press Exchange The London Press Exchange was founded in 1892 by Frederick Higginbottom and Reginald J.Sykes, becoming a significant Government advertising agency during World War II. It merged with the Leo Burnett agency in 1969. The agency also produced promo ...

. In

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

he was registered as a

conscientious objector A conscientious objector (often shortened to conchie) is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, or religion. The term has also been extended to object ...

, conditional upon undertaking light agricultural work; he had a weak heart, which probably would have exempted him from

military service Military service is service by an individual or group in an army or other militia, air forces, and naval forces, whether as a chosen job (volunteer) or as a result of an involuntary draft (conscription). Some nations (e.g., Mexico) require a ...

in any case. Afterwards he took ownership of a studio in

Fitzrovia Fitzrovia () is a district of central London, England, near the West End. The eastern part of area is in the London Borough of Camden, and the western in the City of Westminster. It has its roots in the Manor of Tottenham Court, and was urban ...

, which he used for the remainder of his career. In the 1960s, he bought a cottage in

Whitstable Whitstable () is a town on the north coast of Kent adjoining the convergence of the Swale Estuary and the Greater Thames Estuary in southeastern England, north of Canterbury and west of Herne Bay. The 2011 Census reported a population of 32 ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, and painted the shoreline scenery he found there. Collins' work included ''The Grapes'' (1936), a view of a pub on Limehouse Reach painted from the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...

' point of view, and the illustrations for

Charlotte Haldane Charlotte Haldane (; 27 April 1894 – 16 March 1969) was a British feminist writer.Elizabeth Russell, "The Loss of the Feminine Principle in Charlotte Haldane's ''Man's World'' and Katherine Burdekin's "Swastika Night" in Lucie Armitt, ''Where n ...

children's book "Fifi and Antoine". In 1993, he staged a one-man exhibition, "London and Dieppe: A Retrospective", based on his trips there.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Roland 1918 births 2015 deaths English watercolourists People educated at Kilburn Grammar School People from Kensal Green English conscientious objectors Painters from London 20th-century English painters English male painters 21st-century English painters 21st-century English male artists 20th-century English male artists