Sir Robert Vere DarwinCBERARSA (7 May 1910 – 30 January 1974), known asRobin Darwin, was aBritishartist, President of theRoyal Society of Painters in Watercolours, and Rector of theRoyal College of Art.
Robin Darwin | |
|---|---|
 Darwin as sketched by Group of Seven artist Arthur Lismer | |
| Born | Robert Vere Darwin (1910-05-07)7 May 1910 |
| Died | 30 January 1974(1974-01-30) (aged 63) |
| Nationality | English |
| Known for | artist |
| Spouse(s) | Yvonne Darby Ginette Hewitt |
Life
editHe was the son of the golf writerBernard Darwin and his wife the engraverElinor Monsell. One of his sisters was the potterUrsula Mommens. He was a great-grandson of the naturalistCharles Darwin. In 1931, he married artist Yvonne Darby (1900? – 1985). After their divorce, he later married Ginette Hewitt[1] who had been previously married to Lt-Col Kenneth Morton-Evans by whom she had two children.[2]
Darwin was educated atEton College andSlade School of Fine Art, after which he taught at Eton for five years before designing camouflage in theMinistry of Home Security during theSecond World War. After serving as Professor of Fine Art at theUniversity of Durham for two years, he joined theRoyal College of Art in 1948, first as principal, then as Rector and Vice-Provost when the college gained university status in 1967. He left this position in 1971 when he became president of theRoyal West of England Academy. Throughout his career he also frequently exhibited as well as selling his artwork.[1]
Darwin was made aCommander of the Order of the British Empire in 1954[3] and wasknighted in 1964.[4] He was elected a member of theRoyal Academy in 1972.[1]
This charcoal of Robin Darwin was sketched by Canadian artistArthur Lismer, a member of theGroup of Seven. It was given by Darwin toJohn Bland, former head of McGill's School of Architecture and later Bland gave it toNorman Slater, who studied Architecture at McGill and Industrial Design at the RCA around the same time it was drawn in the early 1950s.[5]
References
edit- ^abcWho Was Who 1971–1980. Bloomsbury Publishing, London. 1989.doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U153719.ISBN 0-7136-3227-5.
- ^R. Y. Goodden, ‘Darwin, Sir Robert Vere [Robin] (1910–1974)’, rev. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2006accessed Sir Robert Vere Darwin (1910–1974):doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/31003
- ^"No. 40053".The London Gazette (Supplement). 29 December 1953. p. 11.
- ^"No. 43200".The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 1963. p. 2.
- ^Obituary, mcgill.ca. Accessed 17 January 2023.
External links
edit- 32 artworks by or after Robin Darwin at theArt UK site