Alan C. Collier, R.C.A.,O.C.A. 1911 - 1990

Allan Collier, born in Toronto in 1911, resided there for most of his life. He attended the Ontario College of Art (OCA) from 1929 to 1933. Through high school he had always thought that he would become an architect, but a chance encounter with a classmate redirected him. His classmate urged him to write to OCA for a prospectus. Collier was accepted, but the friend failed to attend. When they next met thirty years later, his former schoolmate had no recollection of the critical role he had played in changing Collier's direction. As Collier himself says of his imagined prospects as an architecture student in the first years of the Depression. "It would have been hopeless."

During his four years at OCA he studied under three members of the Group of Seven: J.E.H. MacDonald, Franklin Carmichael and Franz Johnston. He felt Johnston was an outstanding teacher; he also felt he owed much to J.W. Beatty. Collier often said he could still hear Beatty's advise recurring in his mind's ear; "The paint for the hole (the sky as seen through the branches of a tree) must be darker than the rest of the sky." He chuckled, "Every time I did that, I'd think, Old Beatty was right!"

Alan's initial inclination was to become a successful portrait artist. "I had a knack for getting a likeness, even in high school." His illusions were altered by a teacher who pointed out in order to hobnob socially with those likely to become his clients he would require money.

He worked as a miner for two and a half years to finance further studies under Howard Trafton at the Art Students' League in New York. After studying for two years (1937-1939) he worked there as a commercial artist. During World War II he served overseas with the Royal Canadian Artillery survey attached to a survey group. On his return he worked as a commercial artist and taught at the Ontario College of Art, but continued to paint at home in the evenings. He did some portraiture, initially using his son Ian's nursery as a studio for the sittings at night. He described how he and his wife Ruth, would roll the crib out when the client visited. Collier always felt he took a risk to build the large, high ceilinged studio at the back of his house in the early 50's, but it changed his life; he was able to do both freelance commerical work at home, teach at the OCA and still paint in his spare time. He gradually shifted away from the disruptions that portraiture sittings caused in what was becoming the orderly schedule of a landscape artist.

Priced between $2,500.00 - $3,500.00