The Welsh artist Roy Powell, who has died aged 87, was a distinguished painter in both oil and watercolour, particularly in the still-life “vanitas” tradition.
His distinctive paintings, as with those of his biggest influence, Cézanne, emerge from a contemplative, intense emotional involvement with subject. Vanitas paintings, in a philosophical tradition dating from the 17th century, are a confident assertion of life alongside a reminder of its ephemeral nature. In Roy’s case this was expressed through sheep skulls, fruit, vases of flowers, books and rich fabrics. The depiction of mirrors encouraged a questioning of the familiar. He was also concerned with resonances between form, structure and colour. In addition he painted landscape and wrote articles about painting.
Born in Chepstow, Monmouthshire, he was the son of Winifred Owen, a former maid at Llanover Hall, where his father, Ivor Powell, had been a gardener. Ivor later became a policeman and, on his retirement and encouraged by Roy, took up painting in a naive style.
Roy attended Monmouth school, where its inspirational art teacher, the Polish exile Otto Maciąg, encouraged him, as well as West Monmouth school. Roy was one of a number of outstanding artists who attended Cardiff College of Art in the 1950s, interrupted, in his case, by national service. Although his quiet, reflective personality never particularly suited him to the profession, he taught in schools in the Midlands and London between 1959 and 1974. Then he moved to the mid-Wales town of Brecon to teach at the high school. A well-known figure, he became involved at Brecon Cathedral as a warden.
It was in retirement from 1990 that Roy was able to flourish fully as an artist. Although a loyal and longstanding member of the Welsh Group, he also joined what would become the Royal Watercolour Society of Wales. He held numerous shows, including at Brecknock Museum and Art Gallery in 1993, where I was the curator, and, alongside his father’s work, at the National Library of Wales in 1997. Roy had been close friends since art college with Islwyn Watkins and Ivor Davies, and the latter regularly drew him.
Roy is survived by his partner of 30 years, Jenni Rule, whom he met during preparations for a production by Brecknock Little theatre. His brother, Geoffrey, predeceased him.
