Cecil Collins (1908-1989) was a British artist, printmaker and teacher. Born in Plymouth, Collins trained at the Royal School of Art and visited Paris in 1933, where he was influenced by the work of Paul Klee. In 1936, he exhibited at the London International Surrealist Exhibition at the New Burlington Galleries. His work was aligned with the Surrealist’s re-imagining of the English visionary tradition of William Blake and Samuel Palmer. However, Collins remained independent of the movement and his work exhibits diverse Modernist and Neo-Romantic influences. In this drawing, the artist uses gestural abstract shapes to create tension and movement between the figure and tree, indicating his concern with humanity’s spiritual relationship with nature.
