COLIN MOSS
A Celebration of the Artist’s Life & Work

COLIN MOSS

30th April 1914 - 16th December 2005

Colin Moss stands favourably alongside the Kitchen Sink artists of the 1950s such as John Bratby, Derek Greaves and Jack Smith but, as a master draughtsman of the highest order, he avoided the prevalent trends of abstractionism to tread a lonelier, yet determined, path outside the mainstream. He portrayed the hard-hitting realities of urban and working class life in Ipswich and London from the 1930s to the present day yet the work was cosmopolitan. Its internationalist flavours of social realism and an expressionistic handling of paint and colour sang “out from the walls, like rich base baritones, drenching everything in a cascade of boisterous colour; palpitating reds – an almost unbelievably skilful range of the violet-mauve-purple vein-shattering blues – and vibrant falsetto greens.” (Mervyn Levy, Art News & Review, 5.2.1955)

Every drawing and painting was stated with uncompromising intensity and power; it was gritty and passionate. He keenly observed the human condition in all its forms; the poor and unemployed, gossipers in terraced streets, lovers on park benches, prostitutes, tramps and drunks. His nudes were full-blooded and sensuous, his religious figures anguished and his studies of flowers, fish and fruit ravishing. How many other East Anglian artists have tackled the subject of the death camp victims at Auschwitz or refugees forced out of their homes by the horrors of war? Although his work as a camouflage designer for the Ministry of Home Security is now acclaimed, it was his experiences as a soldier on active duty in north Africa and Palestine during WWII that led to the production of some of his most powerful pieces.

Retirement in 1979 after 32 years of teaching at the Ipswich School of Art brought Colin greater freedom to paint at a time when he was still at the height of his powers. The 1980s saw him take special pleasure in painting oil studies of his garden and a wonderful series of flowers in vibrant watercolours. He especially loved his large containers of scarlet geraniums and of course he was always drawing nudes. An accomplished draughtsman, practitioner and teacher of life drawing since his early training at Plymouth Art School and the Royal College, what he called “the artist’s greatest challenge” culminated in an exhibition at the Chappel Galleries in 1998 entitled, tongue in cheek by Colin, “Have I got Nudes for You”!

Whether we look at Colin’s most recent work or that produced some 60 years ago, it is impossible not to admire his consistent energy and application that never diminished until the last few years of his life. He was always true to himself. Through his acute observations of ordinary people over six decades he immortalised the details of contemporary life, from pre-war Britain to the punk era of the 1980s and the ever present destitution on the streets during the 1990s. These will undoubtedly be considered of enormous value to future social as well as art historians. The honesty of Colin Moss’s vision, revealing both the light and dark sides of everyday human existence, has touched many lives and will surely continue to do so. It is a compelling and wonderful legacy.

Chloe Bennett

COLIN MOSS