WHYTE'S EXCEPTIONAL IRISH ART MONDAY 7 DECEMBER 2020

6 Peter Collis RHA (1929-2012) Born in London in 1929, Peter Collis studied at Epsom College of Art from 1947 to 1952 and later worked in the petroleum industry. He moved from Surrey to Ireland in 1969. Collis was elected an associate of the RHA in 1990 and a full member in 1993. He served as RHA treasurer from 1994 to 1998, and was a member of the annual exhibition selection committee. In 2002 he was conferred with Senior Membership of the Academy. In 1971 his was one of the works of “charm and merit” at the RHA exhibition highlighted by The Irish Times. Years later, Aidan Dunne in the same publication noted the similarities to the French Post-Impressionist Paul Cézanne in Collis’ use of the building-block method of constructing compositions, and deference to the picture plane. “But he [Collis] goes in for stronger tonal contrasts, and he clearly has an expressionist inclination that he indulges to varying degrees from picture to picture.” Collis’ still lifes have been described as French in character. Pieces of fruit, plates, bottles and jars are depicted in luminous colours against a muted background. The objects are heavily delineated, and the tilted perspective is reminiscent of Post-Impressionism. South Dublin andWicklow provided the settings for many of his landscapes, while other work was based on studies made in Connemara, west Cork, Donegal and Meath. Collis exhibited at the Royal Academy, the Royal Society of Portrait Painters and Oireachtas amongst other venue and had solo exhibitions at the Emmet, Wyvern and Solomon galleries in Dublin, and elsewhere nationally. Works by him are held in many public collections, including Aer Rianta, AIB, Bord na Móna, Irish Management Institute, UCD and VHI. His last solo exhibition in Ireland was at the Peppercannister gallery, Dublin, in 2010. A retrospective exhibition was held at the John Martin gallery in London before his death in April 2012. Among his many awards are: The Royal Trust Co Ltd Award (1975); Maurice MacGonigal Landscape Prize (1981); the Claremorris open exhibition (1982, 1990 and 1992), Oireachteas Irish Pensions Landscape Prize (1983); James Adam Salesroom Award, RHA (1999).