Roland Green 1896–1971
SWLA Founder member 1964–1971
Roland Green was born at Rainham, Kent in 1896. His father was a taxidermist and worked for a time at the Natural History Museum in London. Roland was well-known as a bird painter and was primarily a watercolourist. He lived at Hickling on the Norfolk Boards for nearly 50 years. His studio was beside Hickling Broad and the wetland provided the major inspiration for his work. He did travel in Europe to study birds and to the Cairngorms to sketch Golden Eagles, but his paintings are usually associated with depictions of the birdlife of Norfolk – his largest work is a mural in Whitesley Lodge, Hickling showing all the birds of the Broads.
He produced the artwork for the series, ‘Game birds and Wildfowl’ in the John Player cigarette card collection. His book; ‘Wingtips, the identification of birds in flight’ was published in 1947, and this subject was considered his speciality. Contributions of coloured plates to Avicultural magazine ran from 1914 until 1944. He illustrated some 12 books and painted several RSPB Christmas cards between 1920 and 1948. A successful artist, who exhibited annually at the Ackermann Galleries in London, he only exhibited with the SWLA at their inaugural exhibition in 1964 with 3 works. Roland Green died at Hickling, Norfolk in 1971.
Paul Walkden