Colin Moss

Colin William Moss (30 April 1914 – 16 December 2005) was a British artist and teacher who served as a camouflage designer during World War Two. 2Life and work Moss was born in Ipswich above the family shop and off-licence. His father was killed at Passchendaele in 1917 and Moss and his elder sister were brought up by relatives in Devonport near Plymouth. Moss studied at the Plymouth Art School from 1930 to 1934 before continuing his studies at the Royal College of Art under Gilbert Spencer and Charles Mahoney. For his 1937 diploma show he included the oil painting Hunger Marchers, based on the Jarrow March of the previous year - Moss was, and remained, a socialist who was proud of his working class roots. He worked on murals for the British Pavilion at the 1939 New York World's Fair. When World War Two broke out Moss, like many artists, applied to the Ministry of Home Security to do camouflage work. He became one of the eighty-three camouflage officers and technicians working at the Ministry's Camouflage Establishment at Leamington Spa. When his time at Leamington had come to an end, Moss was given a months leave to record his designs before he transferred to other duties. Moss made a series of watercolours recording the elaborate camouflage scheme he had designed and painted for the Stonebridge Power Station in Wemble