Cyril Mann - Biography

Biography

Mann was born in London, England on May 28, 1911. He spent most of his childhood in Nottingham where, at 14, he was the youngest boy at the time to be awarded a scholarship to study at the Nottingham School of Art.

Two years later he left for Canada, hoping to become a missionary. After giving up religion and while working at various jobs in British Columbia - including mining, logging and printing - Mann was inspired by the beauty of the landscape to start painting again. In Vancouver he met Arthur Lismer, a portrait painter originally from Sheffield who was a member of the Canadian Group of Seven. Lismer advised the young man to return to England and continue his art studies there.

He returned to London in 1933. He continued drawing and painting water colours around the Little Venice canal in Maida Vale, a neighborhood in West London.

He met the Rev Oliver Fielding Clark, who admired his work. Clark helped to set up a trust fund, enabling Mann to study at the Royal Academy. He gained admission in 1935 on the strength of his water colours. After three years there, Mann continued his art education in Paris, supported by his art patron, Erica Marx.

He returned to England with his first wife, Mary Jervis Read, at the outbreak of war. Their daughter, Sylvia, was born in 1940. Throughout the war, Mann served as a Gunner in the Royal Artillery but was never appointed an official war artist.