Roger Cecil: Obituary
This is a brief summary of the obituary of Roger Cecil who died at the
age of 72 years on 22nd February 2015. The obituary was published in The Guardian
newspaper on 20th March 2015: its author was Peter Wakelin.
Roger Cecil
Roger Cecil is the archetypal artist who is disregarded whilst alive –
and he was always uninterested in success.
The landscape of his home town of Abertillery, and of his home area –
the valleys of the Welsh coalfield and the moorland on the hill tops – provided
direct inspiration to him. Born to a
coal miner father and a home-based mother, Cecil was based in Abertillery for
his whole life.
Cecil used a variety of materials as paint, and he worked over time to
achieve his desired finished works which were often textured. Cecil’s works can stand comparison ‘with
international masters such as Antoni Tapies and Pierre Soulages’.
After attending Newport College of Art, Cecil gained a scholarship to
the Royal College of Art in London but he rejected this, believing that it
would not be in the best interests of his art.
The BBC programme about the 21 year-old Cecil made in 1964 – ‘Quiet
Rebel’ – featured Cecil and his rejection of a place at the Royal College of
Art.
Cecil earned a living by labouring and occasional sales of works. Only a small number of his works are in
public collections. In the 1990s Cecil
attended Central Saint Martins College in London and he taught A level art in
Ebbw Vale.
Cecil had shows at various galleries in Wales in the 1990s and
2000s. In 2010 an exhibition of his work
was held at the National Eisteddfod of Wales in Ebbw Vale.
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