SIR ROBERT VERE 'ROBIN' DARWIN KCB CBE RA RSA PRWA NEAC (1910-1974)
Sir Robin Darwin, painter and principal of the Royal College of Art and great grandson of the naturalist Charles Darwin. Born London he attended Eton College and Cambridge University and Slade School of Fine Art. He exhibited at the RA and other main London galleries. Appointed as head of the Royal College, where he stayed from 1948 - 71. The College assumed independent university status under his direction. Frances Spalding's book also says that through his leadership, he oversaw a famous period at the RCA which is now rightly known as 'the Darwin era' and his contribution to the world of art was immense and still carries to this day. Knighted in 1964 for his administrative abilities which overshadowed his very real talent as a painter. Landscape was his main interest although he was a good portrait painter, and he produced highly professional and atmospheric examples in oil and watercolour in Britain and abroad.