Sydney Foley ROI RSMA
(1916 - 2001)
Sydney Foley was born in Tottenham in 1916 and was the
secretary to his County School art club. He won a "Saturday Morning Scholarship” to the Hornsey School of Art but
decided not to take it up. After serving in the Royal Artillery between 1939 and 1946 he qualified as a Chartered Secretary as well as attending night school at Hornsey Art School
and working full time in Sunbury Education Office where he rose to be third in command by the time he retired. In order to further his art education after training
at night school he did a correspondence course through Pitman’s College (Jack Merriott was the tutor) and the course included short spells attending workshops with Jack Merriott in Storrington in Sussex. Sydney and Jack became good friends. Madge, Sydney's wife, worked as an editor for Hansard and travelled extensively with her job, it was at her initiative the he went on a Gallion Painting Holiday with John Seabrook and
Edward Swann with whom he formed a lifelong friendship and through this connection he attended The Langham and the London Sketch Club, eventually joins
both. He had to paint
part time before he retired and worked as an outdoor painter in oils and watercolour, on marines, landscape and townscape subjects. Much of his painting is of the Rivers
Thames and Medway and of East Anglia but he has worked on the continent, especially Venice.
Sydney exhibited at the major London galleries and had many one-man exhibitions. He won several awards for his work
including the Stanley Grimm Prize at the Royal Institute of Oil Painters. He was a member of the Royal Society of Oil Painters, the Royal Society of Marine Artists (1983), the United Society of
Artists, the London Sketch Club and the Walton on Thames Art Group (he was their President). He joined the Wapping Group of Artists in 1979 (after he retired) and was their President from 1992 to
1997. He lived in Laleham.
Ashton Cannell FRSA RSMA ARD UA
(1927 - 1994)
Edward Ashton Cannell was born in the Isle of Man 12th September 1927 and attended the Douglas School of Art and the Liverpool College of Art. He
taught at Isle of Man School of Art and became head of art at Rutherford School of Art in London. He was a senior assessor for Metropolitan Regional Examinations Board. He started to paint
full time in 1973, carrying out commissions for various companies including British Petroleum, Foyles, Cassells and Bass International. Ashton was a member of the Royal Society of Marine Artists,
London Sketch Club, BWS and the Wapping Group. He exhibited at the Royal Academy and the Paris Salon where he won a silver medal in 1973, a gold in 1975 . He was a helper at St Mary's Hospital,
Paddington and a counsellor and helper at the Lighthouse Project for Aids. He lived in London and died there in February 1994, He was cremated on 24th February at Kensal Green Crematorium, many
members of the Wapping Group attended.
GRENVILLE COTTINGHAM RBA RSMA
(1943-2007)
Grenville George Cottingham was a painter in oil and watercolour, he was born in Exeter on 16th April 1943 and educated at Exeter School, Exeter College of Art and Liverpool College of Art. Exhibited at the Royal Academy, Royal Society of Marine Artists, The Royal Society of British Artists and the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours and had one-man shows at Hallam Gallery, Bruton Street Gallery and Barnes Gallery. His work is in the collections of P&O; Marine Society, Royal Fusiliers, RN Reserve (London Division), Royal Artillery, Woolwich and the London Mutual. He has published various books. Grenville was a member of the Wapping Group of Artists and died in 2007.
