The Gwen John Studio Collection at Amgueddfa Cymru Helena Anderson, 3 March 2026 Introduction: The Journey of Gwen John’s Studio CollectionIn 1976, one hundred years after Gwen John’s birth, the National Museum of Wales purchased nearly 1,000 works by the artist from her nephew, Edwin. This collection comprised a handful of oil paintings and hundreds of works on paper that were all part of John’s studio collection.What Is a Studio Collection?A studio collection is all the artworks left in an artist’s studio after their death.When Gwen John died suddenly in September 1939, she left all her property, including her unsold artworks, to her nephew. War had just been declared in Europe and Edwin hurried across the Channel to gather what he could and bring it to the UK for safekeeping, returning after the war to collect the rest. The collection now belonging to Amgueddfa Cymru is the bulk of what remained in Gwen John’s studio, though many works were sold at Matthiesen’s Gallery on Bond Street in London in 1946 and in subsequent exhibitions in the 1950s and 1960s.How the Collection Came to Amgueddfa CymruBy purchasing the remaining studio collection, the museum became home to the largest public collection of John’s work anywhere in the world. The studio collection at Amgueddfa Cymru includes over 900 drawings as well as six oil paintings and a number of sketchbooks. Before the museum purchased the studio collection, it owned just three drawings and four oil paintings by Gwen John.Unfinished Paintings That Reveal Her TechniqueThe Gwen John studio collection gives an insight into the many different subjects the artist depicted and the different styles with which she experimented. John is best known for her close-toned oil paintings of women and girls seated in quiet interiors. The examples in the studio collection are unfinished, giving us an insight into her painting technique. For example, Girl in Profile (NMW A 148) shows where John has scraped back the paint surface where the girl’s hairbow would have been. Presumably, she was unhappy with her first attempt and scraped it away to try painting it again. Study of a Seated Nude (NMW A 4928) is unusual because it shows John has worked from the outer of the edges inwards, leaving the face of the sitter until last. Both paintings give us a glimpse of the unusual chalky ground (the pale base layer she put on the canvas first before painting over it in oil paint). She mixed this herself using a unique recipe for which we still don’t know the exact ingredients.A Vast Body of Drawings and Works on PaperThe most notable feature of the studio collection though is the sheer number of drawings and watercolours in it. While John was more focused in her choice of subjects and technique in her paintings, her works on paper are much more varied. They include landscapes and street views, studies of flowers and trees, sketches of cats and horses, and drawings after portrait photographs. Many works are made in series or sets which repeat the same subject. These can be almost identical (NMW A 15751, NMW A 15752, NMW A 15753), or vary in colour and medium (NMW A 15303, NMW A 15304, NMW A 15305).Recurring Subjects: Churches, Figures, and Everyday LifeThe most frequent subject in her works on paper are figures in church (NMW A 3811). She drew the congregants of her local parish church in Meudon, then copied out these images again and again in her studio before adding watercolour and white pigment (NMW A 3611). The single image repeated the most often is Saint Thérèse of Lisieux and her sister, Céline, as children (NMW A 3536, NMW A 15563, NMW A 15565). It was inspired by a photograph of them, of which Gwen John owned a copy. In each version she drew, John changed the composition slightly, adding and removing curtains, wallpaper, and toys from the background, playing with scale, and changing the colours and patterns of every surface. John used much more vivid colours in her works on paper than she ever did in her oil paintings.What the Collection Reveals About Gwen JohnThe Gwen John studio collection gives us an insight into the artistic practice of one of Wales’s best-loved artists. Containing unfinished oil paintings, sketchbooks, and works on paper, it shows how methodical and experimental she was. It also gives us a glimpse into her world: the places where she lived, her friends and neighbours, her pets, her interest in nature and religion, and her art training. This collection is an invaluable resource, befitting of one of the most famous Welsh artists of the twentieth century.
Ordinary heroes in extraordinary times Sioned Williams, 3 April 2020 Collections Online: Nurse's Apron Collections Online: Certificate Collections Online: Certificate The current health crisis has prompted a call for volunteers to support the NHS and plans are underway to convert large venues into field hospitals. Over a century ago, similar preparations were taking place all over Britain in anticipation of the outbreak of the First World War. In 1909 the British Red Cross Society had joined forces with the Order of St John to form the Voluntary Aid Detachment scheme. Detachments (known as VADs) were to provide support and services to military hospitals. They were organized at county level and members included men and women who carried out a range of voluntary positions. The first VAD in Wales was formed at St Fagans, Cardiff in November 1909. At that time, Countess Plymouth from St Fagans Castle was the President of the Glamorgan branch of the British Red Cross Society. Soon after, detachments were formed across Wales, bringing the total to 32 by September 1910. From thereon the work started in earnest, recruting and training members and converting buildings into hospitals. On 24 September 1910, over 200 men and women from the newly formed VADs in Glamorgan gathered at St Fagans Castle grounds. The main purpose of the day was to recruit more volunteers, particularly amongst young women. Demonstrations were also carried out on the day, such as how to treat patients in the field using first aid and only limited basic equipment. Such events became a regular occurance at St Fagans Castle in the years leading up to the war. Detachments would meet at least once a month and members (also known as VADs) would gain experience by volunteering in hospitals. Women VADs were taught first aid, home nursing, hygiene and cooking while men were trained in first aid in-the-field and stretcher bearing. VADs had to pass exams to receive their first aid and home nursing certificates. Some of the VADs were dispatched to hospitals across Britain but most would volunteer within their own communities, such as at St Fagans. Due to a lack of hospitals, all sorts of buildings were offered for use to the Red Cross – from village halls to mansions. These were converted into auxiliary hospitals of about 30 beds that would support a nearby military hospital. In 1916 Earl and Countess Plymouth of St Fagans Castle offered their large Banqueting Hall in the grounds of the Castle to be converted into an auxiliary hospital. By the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, the work of the VADs had ensured preparations were in place to deal with the first casualties returning from war. From thereon many more volunteers were recruited and trained. In all, 90,000 volunteers worked at home and abroad during the war, playing a crucial part in caring for the sick and wounded. Over the coming weeks, we’ll be posting more about some of the volunteers who worked at the St Fagans VAD Red Cross hospital.
In Celebration of International Carrot Day! 3 April 2020 Carrot Day is celebrated each year on April 4th and is the pinnacle for carrot lovers and growers around the world. During this time of isolation, as we respond to the Coronavirus pandemic, more and more of us are turning to our gardens for solace, as a way of gaining valuable fresh air, exercise and to grow food. Amgueddfa Cymru National Museum of Wales has an array of gardens, from St Fagans’ formal pleasure gardens to the productive plots of the Rhyd-y-car Ironworkers terraced houses. The National Wool Museum has a garden dedicated to plants that produce natural dyes, The National Roman Museum in Caerleon has a dye and medicinal garden, while the National Waterfront Museum in Swansea has a community garden developed and managed by the GRAFT team. In celebration of Carrot Day, we’ve compiled a veritable potager of gardening wisdom, traditions and artefacts from our collection, to help inspire you to green up your fingers and put some seeds to earth. Moonlighting in the Garden on Good Friday Traditionally Good Friday has been considered an excellent day for planting potatoes. Temperatures are still generally cool, but the soil remains soft enough to cultivate. However, the primary reason is that the time of planting is perfectly aligned to the moon, the date for Easter always being set to fall on the first Sunday following the vernal or spring Equinox. For millennia, gardeners have planted and cultivated in tune with the moon, based on the principle that just as the Moon’s gravitational pull causes tides to rise and fall, it also affects moisture in the soil. During the waxing moon (when the moon is growing towards full) is a time when sap flow is drawn upwards, so it’s great for sowing and transplanting flowering annuals, biennials, and grains - basically any short-lived plant that we want to harvest its leaves, seed, flowers or fruits. When the moon is waning, (i.e. decreasing in light from full moon to new moon) the sap flow is drawn down. This means that energy is focused towards the roots, which is more suited to cultivating root crops and perennials. Potatoes, being a root crop, should therefore be planted during the waning moon. Good Friday ALWAYS falls after the first full moon of spring, and therefore is guaranteed to fall during this potent, potato planting period. Carrots, beetroot and other root vegetables fall into the same category, so as well as celebrating the carrot today, it’s also a great day to order some root vegetable seeds, ready for Good Friday planting. Seed Fairs Back in the day, the end of March would have been the time when Charter towns held seed fairs. Farmers and growers would bring their harvested seed to market to sell in exchange for other goods as well as money. Conwy in north Wales still holds a seed fair at the end of March. It was established by Royal Charter of Edward 1st more than 700 years ago and set for 26 March each year. It still holds to that date. Here are a few gardening tools from our collection: The familiar rake hasn’t changed its form much over the years. Likewise this rather beautiful arrow headed weed hook is familiar enough. But can you guess what this extraordinary tool might be for? It’s actually a root grubber. Gardeners still have use for such tools today, but they look very different now. This is a seed lip. It was filled with seeds, taken to the patch of land to be sewn, tucked under the arm and handfuls of seeds were then grasped in the hand and scattered. Finally, so that we can celebrate the humble carrot in style on this International Carrot Day, National Wool Museum café cook, Olga James has kindly shared her delicious recipe for Carrot, Garlic and Thyme soup. Here it is. Enjoy! 3 onions L3 garlic cloves (crushed) 3 good sized potatoes 3Ib Carrots Parsley, thyme Oil Salt and pepper 6pts veg stock (5 stock cubes) Gently soften onion in oil with garlic, thyme and parsley. Chop and add the potatoes and fry further 5 mins, add the chopped carrots. Stir, add stock and boil until all veg is soft. Blend and taste add salt and pepper if necessary.
Canary Girls Ian Smith, 6 August 2019 War Germany invaded Belgium on 4 August 1914, leading Britain to declare war. In that first weekend, one hundred men an hour signed up to join the armed forces. By the end of the First World War over five million men had joined up. The rush to do one’s duty and fight at the front left a shortage of skilled workers in factories across Britain. Women who mainly did menial or domestic jobs at this time, were now recruited to work in industry. Even though there was a shortage of men to work in the factories, women were accused of taking jobs away from the ones who couldn’t fight. Women were also a cheaper workforce as they were paid less for doing the same job. Shell Shortage The nature of warfare changed dramatically during the First World War. Artillery had previously been a back up to soldiers but now became the main destructive force. In 1915 a crucial shortage of shells and munitions occurred. Parliament was forced to adopt a National Munitions Policy with David Lloyd George as Minister of Munitions. It controlled wages, hours and employment conditions in munitions factories. It also forced the factories to employ more women to help with the shortage. Munitions factories became the largest single employer of women with over 900,000 being employed in the industry. Even though they did the same job as the men they were paid half the wage. By June 1917 the factories that the women worked in produced over fifty million shells a year. At the end of the war the British Army had fired around 170 million shells during the conflict. Dangerous Work With the declaration of war many firms realised that there was an opportunity to increase sales. Local Munitions Committees were organised by engineering and metal producing firms. National Shell Factories (NSF) were set up all over the country. National Shell Factories took over existing buildings. Grangetown which had been used for spinning hemp and yarn, Festiniog Railway in Portmadoc and the Baldwins factory in Landore, Swansea were just a few of these. All of them produced varying weights of shell and shell heads. It was dangerous work and the risk of explosion was always present. There are many recorded cases of death and serious injury. Pembrey and the Canary Girls Nobels Explosives owned the site of a former dynamite factory at Pembrey, near Burry Port. With government approval in 1914, they opened one of the first purpose built TNT (trinitrotoluene) factories. The site was taken over by the Ministry of Munitions and became the National Explosives Factory (NEF) Pembrey by 1917 and closed at the end of the war. The work in this factory was heavy and dangerous and TNT was a highly poisonous substance. It contained picric acid which had the effect of turning the skin of the women who worked with it bright yellow - giving rise to the nickname canary girls. The women were given milk to drink to combat the effects of these dangerous compounds. It could lead to liver failure, anaemia and damage to the immune system. Around four hundred women died from overexposure to TNT during the First World War. Munitionette Football During the war, women became heavily involved in sports like football and cricket. Football teams were formed at munitions factories across Britain. The government actively encouraged the women to play sports as they believed it was good for their health and kept them fit to work in the factories. The North East of England was a hotspot of women’s football. Blythe Spartans Ladies FC were undefeated with their centre forward Bella Raey scoring 133 goals in one season. In 1918 thirty teams competed in the Munitionettes Cup. When the men returned from the front, the munition factories closed and the ladies teams disbanded. In 1921 the FA banned women from playing on any of their grounds even though they were just as popular on the pitch as the men teams. Men were returning to football and they believed there was no place for women n the game. It wasn’t until 1971 that the FA relented and allowed women to play at their grounds. Llanelli Ladies FC, 1921. Equality In 1915, the Women's War Workers Committee drew up a list of demands including the right to training, trade union membership and equal pay for equal work. Women who filled roles previously held by men were paid much less and were justifiably angry. Men were also concerned that women would continue in these jobs after the war and a lower pay rate would become normal. The first strike for equal pay in the UK happened in 1918 by women workers on London buses and trams. The Strike was successful and forced the government to look into whether the pay gap between sexes should be applied to all sections of industry. The War Cabinet set up a committee in 1917 to look into equality at work. The report was not published until 1919. It found no difference between the sexes with production or quality of work. But the view that women were less able than men still remained. Explosion in Pembrey As soon as the war ended, the munitions factory at Pembrey, Carmarthenshire was used to dismantle shells rather than to make them. On 18 November 1918, Mary Fitzmaurice (36), Jane Jenkins (21) and Edith Ellen Copham (19) were killed in an explosion. Two other women were injured. On the night of the fatal accident the women were dealing with a different type of shell than they had been used to. The explosion killed Jane immediately. Mary and Edith died in hospital that night. The women were all from Swansea and Edith and Mary were buried in Danygraig cemetery on the east side of the town. A huge funeral procession was led from High Street by a brass band and followed by 500 munition girls from the factory, wearing their uniforms. The South Wales Weekly Post said that the women ‘had died as surely in the service of their country as any on the battlefield’ and noted that the crowds of onlookers saluted as the funeral passed. Over a million shells were dismantle at Pembrey without any further accidents. The funeral of a munitions worker in Swansea.
Fire in the Mill Mark Lucas, 9 July 2019 In 1900, the Dre-fach Felindre area was home to 52 mills in full production. During World War One the Welsh woollen industry was employed in the war effort producing blankets and uniforms for the armed forces. Welsh grey homespun known as Brethyn Llwyd uniforms were commissioned by the War Office to give a nationalistic distinction to the new recruits of the new Welsh Army Corps formed during the war. After the war 12 million yards of surplus flannel was sold on the open market by the government at ridiculously low prices, forcing woollen manufactures to also cut their prices. Flannel shirts, for example, sold at 52s 6d a dozen in 1916; by 1923 the price had dropped to 38 shillings. The woollen manufactures of west Wales failed to meet the changing conditions after the war, with some still producing inferior Angola as they had done in war time. Most of the manufacturers still concentrated on the production of flannel for shirts, vests and drovers, but demand for underwear flannel fell rapidly with the introduction of knitted underwear produced by the hosiery manufactures of the East Midlands, Scotland and the north of England. On 11 July 1919 Cambrian Mills caught fire and the three-storey mill south building was destroyed. At the time of the fire the Mill manager, John Davies, was on holiday in Llanwrtyd Wells with his family. His daughter Nesta Morgan remembers her father receiving a telegram at the hotel, but he was unable to read it as it was in English. A passing gentleman read the telegram telling him that part of the mill had been destroyed by fire. Her father was very upset and contacted David Lewis immediately to ask if he should come home; David Lewis responded that he should not but rather return the next day as planned. David Lewis on the left of the photograph with the moustache and hat in the remains of Cambrian Mills David Lewis used the insurance money to rebuild the mill only two storeys high, but considerably longer in length. Rebuilt Cambrian Mills Rebuilt Cambrian Mills Cracked glass in Mill North from the heat of the fire in Mill South that is still visible at the National Wool Museum The fire in Cambrian Mills was the first of 7 suspicious fires in mills in Dre-fach and the surrounding area, including mills at Frondeg and Meiros owned by David Lewis’s brothers Daniel and John Lewis respectively. Not all mills were rebuilt after the fire, however insurance companies were becoming suspicious that the fires were not accidents and insisted that the mills were rebuilt. Meiros was rebuilt in red bricks with the insurance monies paid in instalments as work was carried out. Rebuilt Meiros Mill Another 21 factories closed in Dre-fach Felindre and the surrounding area in the post-war period. ‘[Mill owners who made vast profits from war contracts] made no attempt to set their mills on a sound financial basis, content to bank the money or buy seaside cottages’ Geraint Jenkins 1967, the Welsh Woollen Industry, p. 278 Dyffryn Mill 29/6/1923 Frondeg Mill 7/2/1924 Aberbanc Mill 1926 Ogof Mill 1927 Other Mills destroyed by fire: Meiros in the 1920s Llwynhelyg Mill 1927 Llainffald Mill 1920s Mills closed in Drefach Felindre and the surrounding area: Babel 1925 Cilwendeg 1928 Cwm-ty-mawr 1920 Glyn Mills 1930 Llwynbedw 1920 Pant-glas 1922 Spring Gardens 1925 Bach-y-gwyddil 1923 Cwm-gilfach 1923 Drefach 1923 Green Meadow 1928 Nant-y-bargoed 1925 Penwalk 1928 Ty Main 1923 Cawdor 1924 Cwm-pen-graig 1922 Felin-fach 1924 Henfryn 1920 Pandy 1920 Siop Pensarn 1921 Tower Hill 1925
