Colin Moss (1914-2005) mixed media, Gossips, signed, 44 x 57cm. NB: Colin Moss was Born in Ipswich at 28 Cemetery Road but after his father’s death in WWI his family relocated to Plymouth where he was educated, he received his artistic training at Plymouth Art School and then The Royal College of Art, graduating in 1938. At the outbreak of WWII Colin was working for the Camouflage unit of the Air Ministry and together with 150 other artists he was tasked with disguising factories and power stations. Two years later he was called for active service in the Life Guards, spending his war in the Middle East. Although never an official war artist, he sketched prolifically to document his experiences and constantly revisited the theme of war throughout his career. A number of his pictures from the War are represented in The Imperial War Museum.

Life in Civvy Street saw Colin return to Ipswich uponaccepting the post of Senior Lecturer at Ipswich Art School, a position he occupied until retirement in 1979. In the interim years and long after his retirement he was increasingly recognised as a leading figure in the Regional art scene. In 1980 he was elected Chairman of the Ipswich Art Club and later became President, a lofty position occupied by many great artists before him including Alfred Munnings, Edward Seago and Anna Airy.

Colin's decision to pursue dual careers as artist and teacher was inevitable, painting was a necessity to him, but teaching offered financial stability. Although his painting career was never sidelined, there was necessarily some compromise although he taught by example and his own painting was ever present in the studio alongside that of his students and hewould seek opportunities to work between classes.

Colin Moss was a reluctant self promoter, however forays into the London Art scene of the 1950s saw some critical success. He was represented by the Zwemmer Gallery and Prospect Galleries, sharing exhibitions with the likes of John Bratby, Patrick Heron, Kyffin Williams and John Minton. In 1954 and again in 1956 he took time off from teaching to concentrate fully on painting and produced many of his social-realist work, allied closely to the Kitchen-Sink group and culminating in his ‘big pictures’ of working men and women produced at the height of his artistic powers.

Colin Moss is a significant figure in the modern East Anglian tradition, as a teacher he influenced a generation of artists including Maggi Hambling and Brian Eno. As an artist his work is internationally recognised and represented in The British Museum, The Tate Archive Collection, Norwich Castle Museum, the Ben Uri Gallery, Nottingham Art Gallery and others and of course broadly represented in The Ipswich and Colchester Museums Collections. The following lots, all directly from the artists estate, demonstrate the breadth of his choice of medium and experiments with style which punctuate his career, ever present is his exceptional draughtsmanship which marked him out - even amongst his Royal Academy peers - as an exceptional talent. The subjects often take the form of social documentation, providing a wonderful record of everyday life in 20th Century England.