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

watercolour Watercolor (American English) or watercolour ( Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin 'water'), is a painting method"Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to the ...

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 (English school), academy status located in Paddock Wood, Kent. Etymology The name comes from the nearby Mascalls corner. History ...

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 ...

, Kent in 2012, which led to further exhibitions in

Mayfair Mayfair is an area of Westminster, London, England, in the City of Westminster. It is in Central London and part of the West End. It is between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane and one of the most expensive districts ...

Biography

Collins was born on 17 September 1918 in

Kensal Green Kensal Green, also known as Kensal Rise, is an area in north-west London, and along with Kensal Town, it forms part of the northern section of North Kensington, London, North Kensington. It lies north of the canal in the London Borough of Brent ...

, 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. ...

and studied art at

St Martin's College St Martin's College was a British higher education college with campuses in Lancaster, Lancashire, Lancaster, Ambleside and Carlisle, as well as sites in Whitehaven, Barrow-in-Furness, Barrow and London. It provided undergraduate and postgrad ...

. 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 pro ...

. In

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

he was registered as a

conscientious objector A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of conscience or religion. The term has also been extended to objecting to working for the military–indu ...

, 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 military, volunteer) or as a result of an involuntary draft (conscription). Few nations, such ...

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

Fitzrovia Fitzrovia ( ) is a district of central London, England, near the West End. Its eastern part 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 urbanised in ...

, 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, England, at the convergence of the The Swale, Swale and the Greater Thames Estuary, north of Canterbury and west of Herne Bay, Kent, Herne Bay. The town, formerly known as Whitstable-on-Se ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, 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, s ...

' point of view, and the illustrations for Charlotte Haldane 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