Cecil Collins

The Approach

Maker

Cecil Collins (British, 1908–1989, b. in Plymouth, Devon, UK)

Title

The Approach

Year

1939

Medium

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

Dimensions

Plate: 8.1 x 12.2 cm (3 3/16 x 4 13/16 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

In plate, l.l.: Cecil Collins/1939. Below image in graphite, l.l.: Cecil Collins 1939 (name underlined); l.r. 1/4. Verso, in graphite along bottom: 1 The Approach (circled).

Identification

Edition

1/4

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Gift of D. Patrick Maley and Nancy B. Turck

Object Number

2021.19.13

Type

Exhibition History

This Is a Thing
Recent Gifts to Prints, Drawings, and Photographs, 2020–2025
Aug 23, 2025 – Feb 15, 2026

Label copy

Interpretation

These works by British artists Keith Vaughan and Cecil Collins take two very different approaches to depicting the landscape. Vaughan (left) breaks it into rectangular forms and loose brushwork, suggesting a scene through his careful arrangement of simplified elements. Collins (right) demonstrates his engagement with surrealism: his landscape is populated by a grid of uncertain things lying on the ground. 

Acquisition note

D. Patrick Maley and Nancy B. Turck gave the RISD Museum these and 12 other works in 2021. With the exception of one, all were by British artists. The RISD Museum has a strong collection of British works on paper from before the 1900s, as well as strong representation in modern and contemporary art by British artists. Many of these more recent works were given to the museum by the collector Richard Brown Baker, offering a wonderful context for Maley and Turck’s gift.

[CM]

Image use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use.

In copyright This object is in copyright

Tombstone

Cecil Collins (British, 1908–1989, b. in Plymouth, Devon, UK)
The Approach, 1939
Soft-ground etching on paper
Plate: 8.1 x 12.2 cm (3 3/16 x 4 13/16 inches)
Gift of D. Patrick Maley and Nancy B. Turck 2021.19.13

To request new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.