Cecil Collins, R.A.

Gifted by the Artist to Julian Trevelyan by 1946

London, Alex. Reid & Lefevre Ltd, Cecil Collins, February 1944, cat. no.10;
London, Whitechapel Art Gallery, Cecil Collins A Retrospective Exhibition of Paintings, Drawings and Tapestries from 1928-1959, November - December 1959, cat. no.30;
London, Tate, Cecil Collins A Retrospective Exhibition, 10th May - 9th July 1989, cat. no.20, illustrated p.82.

Alex Comfort, Cecil Collins: The Painter's Subject, Holywell Press, Oxford, 1946, illustrated p.42;
William Anderson, Cecil Collins, Barrie & Jenkins, London, 1988, cat. no.117, illustrated p.168.

Original canvas. There are some scattered fine lines of craquelure to the canvas, most apparent to the lower left quadrant. There is a small scratch at the extreme upper right corner of the work. There is some surface dirt to the work, with a couple of spots of detritus. Subject to the above the work appears to be in very good original condition. Ultraviolet light reveals some spots of fluorescence and probable spots of retouching to the work. The work is presented in a painted gilt wooden frame. Please telephone the department on +44 (0) 207 293 6424 if you have any questions regarding the present work.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

'My works are visual music of the kingdoms of the imagination. There is in all human beings a secret, personal life - untouched, protected, won from communal life. It is this sensitive life which my art is created to feed and sustain: this real life deep in each person.' (Cecil Collins, quoted in the introduction to the catalogue of his exhibition at The Bloomsbury Gallery, London, 1935)

Cecil Collins was a close friend to Julian Trevelyan and also to Mary Fedden. He often came to Trevelyan for advice and support. Mary commented 'He [Trevelyan] admired and respected his art. And they got on well. I think in the edn they found each other a couple of quirky, eccesntric old men. Celcil for instance would never go on the underground or allow his paintings to be transported on the Underground - he knew it was inhabited by evil spirits' (Mary Fedden, quoted in Jose Manser, Mary Fedden and Julian Trevelyan Life and Art by the River Thames, London, Unicorn Press, 2012, p.89).  Like Trevelyan, Collins had work included in the highly significant International Surrealist Exhibition in London in June 1936. Yet as Trevelyan noted, Collins did not quite belong within the confines of such a group: 'Collins indeed, whom I knew well, had far too much of a personal religious mysticism to make a good surrealist. He has always been a cat that walks by himself, prophetic, poetic, visionary' (Julian Trevelyan, Indigo Days, Macgibbon & Kee, London, 1957, p.67). Rather, Collins soon shook off the surrealist label preferring to explore (mytho) poetic consciousness in art on his own terms. Collins looked deep into the past for inspiration, especially in literary traditions, from the bible to Byzantine legends, to the works of Shakespeare and, of course, the poetry of William Blake. In this work a King-pilgrim-fool emerges at the far right of the composition, crossing the rich green landscape towards the red chalice which is set on the ground by the thick outcrop of trees through which the rays of a blazing sun push through. Collins belongs to a long and distinguished line in British art that runs from William Blake to Samuel Palmer, through Collins' contemporaries Stanley Spencer and Edward Burra, and on even to the early, haunting works of Lucian Freud. All of these artists can be considered 'magic realists', working long before the idea was applied to the writing of the likes of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Salman Rushdie.