ROBERT MC LELLAN-SIM (1907-1985)
Ol Doinyo Eburru (2,856m- 9,370ft)
Kenya
In Mount Eburu and Lake Navaisha, oil on canvas, 1960
The mountain
Ol Doinyo Eburru (2,856m- 9,370ft) is an active complex of volcanoes in the Great Rift Valley, Kenya to the northwest of Lake Naivasha. The volcanic complex has an area of 470 square kilometres (180 sq mi). There are two summits, Eburru hill and West hill.[1] There are young craters on the eastern part of the ridge. It is being exploited for geothermal energy. Soysambu Conservancy is located to the north of the massif, between Lake Elmenteita to the east and Lake Nakuru to the west.
The painter
Robert Mc Lellan Sim (RMS) attended Newport Secondary School from 1919 to 1924. In 1926 he won three prizes for graphic arts at the National Eisteddfod of Wales and in 1926 he was awarded a scholarship to study at the Newport School of Arts and Crafts (now part of the University of Wales). After finishing college with a Board of Education Teachers Certificate he attended the Newport Institute for Research into Art and Design (N.I.R.A.D.).
RMS was a prolific artist, and during his time in East Africa (he travelled throughout Kenya, Uganda, Tanganyika and Zanzibar) he completed as many as 40 paintings a year. His work was in great demand, mostly in Kenya and purchased by many eminent people and was extremely popular as an official gift or a farewell present. The Colony of Kenya presented a McLellan-Sim painting to HM The Queen on the occasion of her Coronation in 1953, and HM The Queen Mother was presented with another to commemorate her Visit to Kenya in 1959.
RMS’s move to Kenya in 1947 was a search for colour and space. His brief war service in the Far East obviously gave him a taste for warmer climes, brighter colours and wide spaces, aspects that were to feature strongly in his African paintings. He is on record as saying that he preferred landscapes and seascapes to portraits because he could go away on his own, often combining his field trips with fishing expeditions, during which he could turn to his sketch book when the trout would not jump!