Y Cyfarchiad I Fair

, a watercolour of about1963, set on a Welsh hillside, and linking the Annunciation to the Celtic myth of redemption.

Frontispiece to 'In Parenthesis', 1937, the Christ-like figure of the common man, caught in the predicament of war.

Capel-y-ffin

, a watercolour of 1926-7, given by David Jones to Eric Gill.

Trystan ac Essylt

, a highly complex watercolour completed in 1963, showing the doomed lovers of Arthurian legend.

David Jones was more profoundly influenced throughout his life by the landscape, language and myths of Wales than any of his contemporaries. An extraordinary and multi-talented man, he occupies a unique place in twentieth-century British art, and is often called the greatest painter-poet since William Blake.

It may seem a paradox that David Jones was born a Londoner, visited Wales regularly for just four years between 1924 and 1928, and never made his home here. But then until the 1950s almost all Welsh artists were obliged to make their careers largely outside Wales.

Senior Curator, Beth McIntyre explores the visual world of David Jones for Welsh National Opera

Jones's father came from Holywell in Flintshire, and passed on a deep sense of his Welsh identity to his son, who was to devote a lifetime to the study of a Welsh culture that he felt was lost to him. When the First World War broke out in 1914, he was determined to join a Welsh regiment. He was wounded on the Somme in that Welsh epic, the battle of Mametz Wood. After three years at Westminster School of Art he joined a community of Catholic craftsmen at Ditchling in Sussex. One of its leaders was the sculptor, typographer and engraver Eric Gill, who was to have a pronounced influence on how he thought about art. He became engaged to Gill's daughter Petra for a while, and went with him when he moved his family from Ditchling to Capel-y-ffin in the Black Mountains. There Jones found himself as a painter, primarily in watercolour. He developed a personal and modernist vision of the Breconshire landscape that has its roots in the art of Cézanne and Van Gogh. During these years (1924-1928) Jones also spent time with his parents in the London suburb of Brockley, and at the Benedictine monastery on Caldy Island.

In 1927 he was commissioned to make a set of copper engravings to illustrate Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient Mariner, and the following year he was elected a member of the modernist exhibiting group the 7 & 5 Society. Late in 1932, when he had nearly completed his intricate, poetic narrative of his experience of the First World War, In Parenthesis, he had a nervous breakdown, and found it increasingly difficult to paint. He also turned his back on the modernist art world as it moved closer to abstraction, and spent most of the 1930s holed up in a small hotel in Sidmouth.

In Parenthesis was published in 1937, and is now regarded as one of the great achievements of British literary modernism, alongside the works of James Joyce, T. S. Eliot and D. H. Lawrence. More poetry followed, and he was also painting more during the Second World War. His work comprising large watercolours - delicate, highly detailed, scholarly, and representational - which often took months to complete. In 1945 he began to work on lettering and to paint inscriptions, drawing on passages from literary works in a mix of Latin, Welsh and Old English. He had another breakdown after the Second World War, and from 1948 he lived in a single room in boarding houses in Harrow.

His inspirations, in both painting and in poetry, were his Catholicism, and especially the central mystery of the Mass, and the 'matter of Britain' the Arthurian Legends and the history of post-Roman Britain.

His late paintings are uniquely personal, being richly worked and full of allusions to theology, history and legend. His meditation The Anathemata, one of the great long poems of the twentieth century, was published in 1951.

Two of his last great paintings encapsulate his post-war achievement, Y Cyfarchiad i Fair or The Greeting to Mary and Trystan ac Essylt, both dating from 1963. The first shows the angel Gabriel appearing to the Virgin, who is seated in a garden within a landscape based on that around Capel-y-ffin. The second, over which he laboured for three years, depicts the central drama of the legend of Trystan and Essylt, when King Mark's knight and his master's bride drink a fatal love potion on their voyage from Ireland to Cornwall, and is full of richly complex iconographical detail.

Why then was this strange, shy, lonely man one of the greatest and most influential Welsh artists of the twentieth century? It is, I believe, because he identified so passionately with the idea of Wales, and of the importance of its language and culture to the shared experience of Britain over the last two thousand years. Jones was part of Wales's growing political and cultural consciousness during the 1950s and 1960s (a friend and correspondent was Saunders Lewis, a co-founder of Plaid Cymru). His work was seen here, for example in a major touring exhibition organised by the Welsh Arts Council in 1954, and he was awarded a gold medal by the National Eisteddfod in 1964. He shows us how an artist can develop a Welsh voice far beyond mere representation of place.

Graham Sutherland c.1940
© Estate of Graham Sutherland

SUTHERLAND, Graham
Pastoral, 1930 (NWM A 4042)
© Estate of Graham Sutherland

SUTHERLAND, Graham
Welsh Landscape, 1936 (NWM A 4403) © Estate of Graham Sutherland

SUTHERLAND, Graham
Feeding a Furnace, 1942 (NWM A 4628) © Estate of Graham Sutherland

SUTHERLAND, Graham
Untitled (Wavelike Form), 1976 (NMW A 2271) © Estate of Graham Sutherland

SUTHERLAND, Graham
Study of a Palm Frond, 1947 (NWM A 4101)

Graham Sutherland was celebrated as the 'outstanding painter of his generation'. The places in which Sutherland worked had a profound influence on his work: from the rural landscape of Kent, to the hills and valleys of west Wales and the heat and light of the French Riviera.

Sutherland trained as a printmaker at Goldsmiths in the mid 1920s. Many of his early prints show his enthusiasm for the pastoral work of Samuel Palmer.

Trees and woods are enduring motifs in Sutherland's work, from the nostalgic countryside scenes of his earliest prints, through to the blasted and tortured forms of his later images. They often become like creatures, capable of expressing emotion and physical sensation. Gradually Sutherland's vision began to take on a more personal style and note of menace.

Sutherland in Wales

He first visited Pembrokeshire in 1934 and said it was the place where he 'began to learn painting'. He recalled being fascinated by 'twisted gorse on the cliff edge... the flowers and damp hollows... the deep green valleys and the rounded hills and the whole structure, simple and complex'. Sutherland discovered in Pembrokeshire a landscape of 'exultant strangeness' but also felt that he was 'as much part of the earth as my features were part of me'.

Following the outbreak of World War Two, Sutherland was appointed an Official War Artist. He recorded war work at mines, steel works and quarries in Cornwall, South Wales and Derbyshire, and the devastation of bomb-damaged Cardiff, Swansea, London and northern France.

Sutherland visited steel works in Cardiff and Swansea in 1941 and 1942. He imaged the workings of the foundries to be like living creatures. He wrote: 'as the hand feeds the mouth so did the long scoops which plunged into the furnace openings feed them, and the metal containers pouring molten iron into ladles had great encrusted mouths.'

Describing his first experience of the south of France in 1947 Sutherland recalled that: 'To see Provence for the first time is to know

Sutherland quickly took to both the sunny climate and the intriguing appearance of the region's plants and animals. In 1956 he and his wife bought a modernist villa designed by the Irish architect Eileen Gray. Sutherland was to live in this house, on a hillside of the coastal town of Menton for much of the year for the rest of his life.

In France, Sutherland discovered an array of new inspirational forms. Palms, gourds, maize and root-forms were all studied, dissected and reassembled into new arrangements. These increasingly took on the quality of creatures or figures caught in a process of metamorphosis. Palm leaves suggest the sun, heat and foreignness of the south of France. After the hardship and drabness of the war years they must have seemed exotic. However, they signify more than the simple enjoyment of a holiday destination. The razor-sharp frond edges recall the spikiness of Sutherland's earlier thorn studies. They suggest the potential for the co-existence of pleasure and pain.

In 1967 Sutherland returned to west Wales for the first time in over 30 years. Nearly a decade later when he had once again been working regularly in the region, he explained that he had been 'sorely mistaken' in his assumption that he had exhausted the inspiration the place had to offer. Instead he had again soaked himself in the 'curiously charged atmosphere — at once both calm and exciting'.

Sutherland wanted to leave a collection to Wales because he felt 'having gained so much from this country, I should like to give something back'. In 1976 he established the Graham Sutherland Gallery at Picton Castle where the majority of this collection was held before its transfer to Amgueddfa Cymru in 1995.

This article was produced by Rachel Flynn as part of an Arts and Humanities Research Council funded Collaborative Doctoral Award with Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales and the University of Bristol.

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Oriel y Parc

John Piper
Jagged rocks under Tryfan

ink, watercolour & gouahce, c.1948
22 x 27 inches Copyright John Piper Estate

John Piper
Rock formations

ink, watercolour & gouache, c.1948
21 x 27.5 inches
Copyright John Piper Estate

From around 1943 to 1950 John Piper undertook an intense artistic journey through the mountains of north Wales, conveying a passion and vision like none other seen before. There is an exuberance and brilliancy to the tones and hues, as well as sheer drama in each of the pictures.

One of the most versatile British artists of the twentieth century, John Piper's work encompasses portraiture, landscape, architectural studies, still life, ceramics and designs for theatre, stained glass and tapestry. Piper's interest in landscape and architecture extended to all areas of Britain, however his first significant encounter with North Wales came when he was working as an official war artist during the Second World War.

Manod Mawr Quarry: storehouse for priceless objects during the Blitz

In 1943 the War Artists Advisory Committee commissioned Piper to record the interior of Manod Mawr quarry. At the time it housed artworks from the National Gallery and the Royal Collection to protect them from bombing during the Blitz.

The dark conditions of the quarry were not suitable for painting or drawing and so the commission was abandoned. It did, however, provide the opportunity for Piper to explore North Wales. This sparked an intense period of recording the mountains of Wales.

Inspiration from Turner and Wilson

During the period Piper spent in North Wales, he often referred to the guidebooks and early geological texts of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as he travelled around the area recording the mountains. Not only did he admire their engraved illustrations, but they also provided a link to the artists of the period most admired by Piper, Richard Wilson (1714-1782) and J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851).

Church architecture from West Wales

Piper's painting trips to Wales did not start with Snowdonia or North Wales, but Pembrokeshire and Cardiganshire in 1936. The following year, he produced Five Chapels, 1937. The chapels depicted are: Emmaus, Llanon, Red Roses, Rhydygwyn and Tyrhos. These five collages were produced with torn and cut papers drawn and assembled. It shows his early interest in church architecture. He took a particular interest in the simple though neo-classical architecture of non-conformist chapels in Wales.

Piper in North Wales

During the unsuccessful Manod Mawr commission, Piper began to explore north Wales and the locations painted by Wilson and Turner such as Cader Idris. This trip also brought him in close proximity to Aran Fawddwy, the subject of an impressive oil, The Rise of the Dovey, 1943-44. The title of this painting refers to Creiglyn Dovey, the lake in the foreground, which is the source of the River Dovey.

Turner painted a slightly different view of Aran Fawddwy in 1798 in a watercolour titled, A bridge over the Dyfi near Dinas Mawddwy, with Aran Fawddwy beyond (collection of the British Museum). The almost abstract nature, foreboding dark atmosphere and brilliant hues of light gold, yellow, blue and red in this work are very similar to Turner's style of painting. Upon the canvas is a layer of gesso, which has been painted on top of in oils. This gives the work this very rough texture, evoking a sense of the roughness of the rocks and the elements.

In 1945 John and his family rented a cottage named Pentre. There is a painting titled Nant Ffrancon Farm, 1950, which shows the house from the roadside. It is situated in the Nant Ffrancon valley, with a steep hill leading up behind the house. The property was sub-let to the Pipers for £35 a year. At the time there was a basic muddy track, rather than a concrete road, making the house almost inaccessible in bad winter weather conditions. Along with this, the house was at the foot of a steep hill, which caused the house to be flooded by heavy rain.

John Piper
The Rise of the Dovey

oil on canvas on board, 1944
27.5 x 34.5 inches
Copyright John Piper Estate

A stormy and wintery Snowdonia

The difficulties and hardships presented by living here, even though only for short periods at a time, encouraged the Pipers to move to another rented house called Bodesi around 1947. Bodesi is situated across the road from Tryfan facing the mountain and Llyn Ogwen. This was the landlord's hafod or summer house, so the Pipers had use of it for the rest of the year. This would account for most of Piper's paintings of Snowdonia being stormy and wintery.

Bodesi was well-placed and a flurry of paintings and drawings of Tryfan began. Jagged Rocks under Tryfan, 1949-50, is a wonderful example of Piper's attention to detail by selecting very particular rock formations on and around Tryfan. It depicts Tryfan Bach (little Tryfan) situated at the base of the mountain on its western side. Its jaggedness mimics that of its parent, Tryfan. White spirals drawn in gouache are most likely patterns left on rocks by lichen which has since detached. In the lower foreground are splashes of red and yellow, in some cases accentuating the shape of the rocks, in other areas denoting the 'chrome yellow and chrome orange lichen' Piper described in his notes.

The influence of nineteenth century guides to Snowdonia in Piper's work also encouraged him to write his own guide to the area. Unfortunately it never went beyond note form, which is now in the archives at Tate Britain.

Although Piper's dream of publishing a guide to Snowdonia never came to pass, it is justifiable to say that he provided an enthralling guide through his paintings and drawings. This series of work is considered by some to be the best of all his paintings. In the 1960s, the Pipers bought a house in Pembrokeshire called Garn Fawr and much of his Welsh work from this period onwards focuses on Pembrokeshire and South Wales. He would never work in North Wales with this intensity again.

A Third Class Carriage

Honore Daumier (1808 - 1879)

Workmen on the Street

, 1838-40
Honore Daumier (1808 - 1879)

The Gust of Wind

Jean-François Millet (1814 - 1875)

The Retreat
Louis Eugène Benassit (1833 - 1904)

Amgueddfa Cymru has one of the most exceptional collections of nineteenth-century French Art in the United Kingdom. Engaging with the turbulence of nineteenth century France and the relationship between the revolutions of the people and revolutionary developments in art, we take a fresh look at the Museum's collection of pre-Impressionist French paintings, researched and interpreted by postgraduate students from the University of Bristol.

The Century of Revolution

The turbulent social and political history of France during the nineteenth century led many artists to document the shifting realities and expectations of life. The 1789 French Revolution, which established the First French Republic, sparked a century of uprisings and uncertainty for the population. While some artists sought to represent current events, others looked to recapture lost traditions.

Revolution and the rise of Realism

From the seventeenth century, the state-run Academy of Fine Arts and its official exhibition, the Salon, led the direction of French art. During the nineteenth century, many artists began to challenge its approach, and to examine how the lives of the people were altered by the dramatic changes of the nineteenth century. Increasingly artists abandoned the biblical figures and Roman heroes that had previously dominated the walls of the Salon.

In A Third Class Carriage Honoré Daumier refers to a key invention of the century, the steam train. In contrast, Jean-François Millet's The Peasant Family depicts rural farmers and idealises the French countryside. While these are very different paintings their common theme is that they are representations of real, contemporary, humble life.

It was during this period that French artists first began to paint like this; an approach sometimes known as 'Realist' painting. These changes in subject matter laid the groundwork for much of Modern Art as we understand it today.

Political Unrest

The overthrow of King Charles X in the July Revolution of 1830 led to the July Monarchy of Louis-Phillippe, ousted in the Revolution of February 1848. The Second Republic gave all men a right to vote and promised democracy. However, a brutal suppression of the workers' rebellion demonstrated that frustration was still present. Daumier's Workmen on the Street indicates such tensions and his imagery criticised continuing class distinctions.

Millet's later The Sower highlights rural labour and peasant life. Agriculture was an ingrained part of the French national identity, however, Millet mourned the mass migration from rural areas into the cities.

During the Franco-Prussian War in 1870 many artists went into exile in safer rural locations. Millet fled from Barbizon to the Normandy coast. He painted The Gust of Wind on his return; the frightening strength and power of the storm representing both change and the violence of war.

The Second Empire collapsed with France's defeat in 1871, causing a group of French radicals to briefly seize control of Paris in the 'Commune' of the same year. Soon quashed, it was replaced by the Third Republic.

The distress and loneliness within these desolate landscapes may be read as a response to the turbulent events in France at this time. Most importantly they show how political events shaped national identity and, in turn, its art.

The Peasant Family (1871-2)
Jean-François Millet (1814 - 1875)
Oil on canvas
The Davies Sisters Collection

The Sower

, 1847-8
Jean-François Millet (1814 - 1875)

Lunch in the Country

, 1868
Honore Daumier (1808 - 1879)

Beach at Trouville

, 1890
Louis Eugéne Boudin (1824 - 1898)

The Heavy Burden

Honore Daumier (1808 - 1879)

Leisure

During the second half of the nineteenth century, changes in class structure in France led to a growth in the wealth of the middle classes, known as the bourgeoisie.

In particular, they enjoyed paintings that showed themselves in the pursuit of leisure and inferred their new status in society. Artists responded by creating paintings to suit the tastes of this growing audience.

1804 saw the invention of the steam powered locomotive and within 50 years, railway lines were being constructed across France. Daumier's Lunch in the Country and Boudin's Beach at Trouville are depictions of bourgeois tourist activities.

In addition to reflecting revolutionary developments in tourism and transport, artists employed bright colour and loose linear structure to create an air of entertainment and recreation. Such revolutionary light effects and loose brushstrokes had a strong influence on the emerging style of Impressionism.

Women and Domesticity

Paintings of women feature significantly in the Museum's collection of nineteenth-century French paintings. It is, however, interesting to note that all these women were painted by male artists, so viewers are observing women from the perspective of the nineteenth-century man.

With this in mind we can begin to understand the role of women in society. Daumier's The Heavy Burden presents us with the activities of working class women, while the other paintings depict fashionable and delicate beauties of a higher social ranking. This shows us that class and gender divisions were still intact following the Revolution.

Society's expectations for women to be demure and feminine run through several of the paintings. Whether they are active and working or seated and passive can be seen as an indication of their situation within society.