Roy Powell obituary

The Welsh artist Roy Powell, who has died aged 87, was a distinguished painter in both oil and watercolour, particularly in the still-life “vanitas” tradition.His distinctive paintings, as with those of his biggest influence, Cézanne, emerge from a contemplative, intense emotional involvement with subject. Vanitas paintings, in a philosophical tradition dating from the 17th century, are a confident assertion of life alongside a reminder of its ephemeral nature. In Roy’s