Rowland Suddaby, was born at Kimberworth, South Yorkshire in 1912. He studied at the Sheffield College of Art from 1926 and won a scholarship. He went to London in 1931 and the following year married Pixie O’Neil.
He struggled to make a living in his early years but his work came to the notice of art collector Rex Nan Kivell (1898-1977) and in 1935 had a successful show at Wertheim Gallery, London, followed by a series of shows from 1936 at the Redfern Gallery. In the mid 1930s he painted vigorous and atmospheric pictures in London and Cornwall, these paintings, both in oils and watercolours, had spontaneity and a sureness of touch which caught the imagination of critics and collectors alike. In 1937, Suddaby moved to Sudbury in the Suffolk countryside, he found the landscape and coastline of East Anglia an inspiration for his trademark pictures for which he is now most known. During the 1940s and 1950s he continued his still life painting which became very popular too. He exhibited at the Royal Academy; New English Art Club; Leger Galleries and in Paris and New York, and more locally at the Colchester Art Society, of which he was a founder member. By the early 1960s Suddaby had become increasingly interested in abstraction and started to experiment with his own work mainly in watercolour and gouache which he did not sign, but after his death, a rich collection of these abstracts were uncovered, which added a significant contribution to his life’s work as an artist. He died in 1972. Suddaby’s work was acquired by many prominent collectors and public bodies, including the V & A Museum and there are 24 examples in the Government Art Collection.