Cecil Collins

Cecil Collins (1908 - 1989) was born in Plymouth. After a year as an engineering apprentice, he won scholarships to Plymouth School of Art in 1924 and the Royal College of Art in 1927. After his marriage in 1931 to a sculptress he moved to Buckinghamshire where he was introduced to Eric Gill, a near neighbour, and David Jones. He held his first exhibition at the Bloomsbury Gallery in 1935. In 1936 the couple moved to Devon where they spent time at Dartington Hall and Collins eventually taught there from 1939 to 1943. Between 1944 and 1948 he and his wife divided their time between London and Cambridge and in 1979 he was awarded the MBE.