Matthew James Collins

Matthew Collins was born in Oak Park, Illinois, in 1970. Nurtured in an artistic family, his enthusiasm for art was encouraged from the earliest age. By his early teens, his study of drawing had already begun under the tutelage of his father, James Edward Collins, an award-winning architect.
Collins was accepted and studied briefly at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where he focused on drawing, etching and sculpture.  He finished numerous copies from the Art Institute’s collection, including inspirational works by Goya, Ingres, Corot, Manet, Whistler and Sargent.   Matthew completed a B A in the History of Art and Architecture at the University of Illinois at Chicago.     In 1994 he traveled to Florence, Italy to finish his studies with the American painter Charles H. Cecil.
For over 15 years, Matthew has been living in Italy studying and researching the classical techniques painting and sculpture.
An artist of unusually wide breadth, his oil paintings, frescos and sculptures reveal a rigorous study of the masterworks of the past and a deep observation of nature.  Not limited to a single genre his oeuvre includes portraiture, landscape, decoration and figurative subjects.
Matthew divides his time between Italy and Ch...

Education (born: 1970)

1994-1996 Charles H. Cecil Studios, Florence, Italy
1990 The Art Institute of Chicago, USA
1989-1994 University of Illinois, Chicago, USA BA in the History of Art and Architecture

Solo Exhibitions

2017 A Dream Incarnate: Italian Landscapes and Portraits, Oak Park Public Library, USA

2016 Iter Animae, Stritch School of Medicine of Loyola University of Chicago, USA

2015 The Work of Matthew James Collins, Michael LaConte Gallery, Chicago, USA

Selected Group Exhibitions

2017 ModPortrait 2016, Museo Pablo Serrano and MEAM, Zaragoza and Barcelona, Spain
Premio Arte Laguna, Arsenale, Venezia, Italia

2016 Saint Vincent Gallery 6th Nationwide Catholic Art Competition, Latrobe, PA USA

2015 The National Sculpture Society's 82nd Annual Awards Exhibition, Brookgreen Gardens, SC USA
Oak Park Art League's Artist Member Show, Oak Park, IL USA

2014 The Laumeister Fine Art Competition, The Bennington Center for the Arts, Vermont USA Oak Park Art League Artist Member's show, Oak Park, IL USA

2013 The Laumeister Fine Art Competition, The Bennington Center for the Arts, Vermont, USA
Oak Park Art League Artist Member's show, Oak Park, IL USA

2012 Portrait Society of America's International Competition and Conference, Philadelphia, USA
Oak Park Art League's 2nd National Carriage House Exhibition, Oak Park, IL, USA
4th National Juried Catholic Art Competition...