Gregynog: Arts and Music for Wales 29 July 2007 After the First World War, Gwendoline and Margaret Davies were determined to help people whose lives had been shattered by the war and to do what they could to improve living conditions at home.In 1920, they bought Gregynog Hall from their brother, who had bought it as an investment in 1914. Gregynog might have been a quiet retreat to receive company, but the sisters wished it to be a place of use and of beauty that they could share with many for the benefit of others.The sisters championed many social, economic, educational and cultural initiatives in Wales during the 1920s and ’30s. They hoped that conferences held at Gregynog would go some way towards building a new Wales in the aftermath of the First World War.Visitors to Gregynog George Bernard Shaw and Thomas Jones at Gregynog. Private collection (Lord Davies) A huge range of organisations met at Gregynog. Conferences were attended by eminent national and international educationalists, politicians, and peace and social welfare campaigners.The magnificent collections at Gregynog were seen by its many visitors. Writing in 1938 Mary Hackett, a visiting Australian, wrote home ‘Did I tell you of the Music Room with its wall hung with priceless pictures, the works of Turner, Monet, Manet and many others’.The most frequent visitor was Thomas Jones. As Deputy Cabinet Secretary, he knew many prominent figures from politics and the arts. The playwright George Bernard Shaw and Stanley Baldwin, the Prime Minister, were among those for whom he arranged invitations to Gregynog.Shaw and his wife Charlotte visited in 1930, 1932 and in 1933. Each evening after dinner Shaw read to the assembled company his play On the Rocks. Gwendoline told a guest: ‘Charlotte and G. B. S. came over from Malvern. We enjoyed them immensely. We just let him talk – and we talked to her!’The Davies sisters and musicMusic was a vital part of the sisters’ lives. They received a better musical education than was usual in well-to-do families.Musical provision in Wales was patchy, and most people’s contact with music was through chapel alone. Although there were music departments at three of the universities, there was a tendency towards insularity and standards of instrumental composition were not high.The sisters were among a group who wanted to change attitudes and access to music in Wales. They were active in pockets of progressive activity, such as the Welsh Folk Song Society and the University Music Club at Aberystwyth.The Gregynog Festival The Music Room. This photograph illustrates the Music Room as used for the summer festivals in the 1930s. Manet’s Rabbit is on the left-hand wall and visitors remember Monet’s water lily paintings and Pissarro’s Pont Neuf here.Private collection (Lord Davies) Musical activity at Gregynog reached a peak in the 1930s with the Gregynog Festival of Music and Poetry. The Festival ran annually from 1933 to 1938. It was a three- or four-day affair, with concerts taking place in the 200-seat Music Room. Collections were taken for local causes. The poetry element was considered just as important as the musical.The festivals played host to important figures of the period, including the composers Ralph Vaughan Williams, Edward Elgar, and Gustav Holst, the conductor Adrian Boult, the poet Lascelles Abercrombie and performers including Jelly d’Arnyi and the Rothschild Quartet.Despite the international flavour of the performers, there was a Welsh emphasis, with many local musicians participating. The programme generally comprised contemporary and not-so-contemporary British music, European chamber classics and a Welsh folk-song element. Choral music dominated, and on every festival Sunday, religious works were programmed.The end of an eraThe 1930s were the heyday of musical activity at Gregynog. The festivals ceased at the outbreak of war in 1939 as the sisters turned their attention to the war effort. The deaths of Walford Davies in 1941, and of Gwendoline ten years later in 1951, had a profound effect on the musical life of Gregynog. Though plans were mooted to transform the Hall into a centre for Welsh music, these never came to fruition.At his appointment to the post of Gregynog Professor of Music at Aberystwyth in 1954, Ian Parrott resurrected the musical spirit of the Hall by reviving the Festival in 1955. This ran until 1961 and adhered largely to the ethos of the 1930s programmes. In 1988, the Festival was revived once more, this time by the tenor Anthony Rolfe Johnson, and continues today under the direction of Rhian Davies, a tangible example of the sisters’ musical legacy in Wales.Guide to the paintings Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841–1919), La Parisienne, oil on canvas, 1874 Renoir’s La Parisienne, according to Eirene White, ‘hung in the small entrance hall, facing the main door to the Music Room’. The present Lord Davies recalls visiting in about 1960 and seeing the Sisley of Moret (purchased by Margaret that year) and Berthe Morisot’s At Bougival in the drawing room with Derain’s Madame Zborowska over the fireplace. Édouard Manet (1832–1883), The Rabbit, oil on canvas, 1881 This was originally intended to be part of a decorative cycle and was painted to be viewed at a distance. It was sold after Manet’s death to the dealer Durand-Ruel. It was purchased by Gwendoline Davies from Bernheim-Jeune for £1,000 in 1917. It later hung at Gregynog in the Music Room next to the Effect of Snow at Petit-Montrouge.Amgueddfa Cymru (Bequest of Gwendoline Davies, 1951) NMWA 2466. Claude Monet (1840–1926), Water Lilies, oil on canvas, 1905 Monet employed a man to tend the water lily ponds at Giverny. He worked daily cleaning the pond so that Monet could paint the reflections in the water. Gwendoline Davies purchased this work in July 1913. Both sisters were enthusiastic gardeners and they created their own lily pond at Gregynog where Margaret in later years liked to paint.Amgueddfa Cymru (Bequest of Gwendoline Davies, 1951) NMW A 2484. Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890), Rain – Auvers, oil on canvas, about 1890 Van Gogh wrote to his brother of ‘the crows flying in circles over the fields’ which made him feel sad and lonely. This work was painted when Van Gogh was staying in Auvers and was being treated for depression. Gwendoline purchased it for £2,020 in 1920.Amgueddfa Cymru (Bequest of Gwendoline Davies, 1951) NMW A2463.
A month is a long time... Owain Rhys, 11 July 2007 Now this entry is going to be concise. I had just finished an extended version of the last month, in English and Welsh, pressed publish, and everything disappeared. So, I'm sulking. In brief, this is how last month went: June 18 - Meeting with National Library of Wales. Discussed collecting websites, TV programmes and records, amongst other things (ephemera, how to record Youtube etc) Very interesting, and a big thanks to all at the Library for the welcome. June 19 and 20 - Digital Storytelling workshop with the BBC. A technique which is very useful to record contemporary life. Visit website at www.bbc.co.uk/wales/capturewales/ June 21 - Digital Storytelling Conference missed due to illness June 23 - Family wedding June 24 to July 1 - Holiday in Caernarfon July 6 and 7 - Oral History conference in London. Again, a technique which is very useful to record contemporary life. July 12 (tomorrow) - Meeting with Johnstown History Group to discuss curating for the Community Dresser. If anybody is interested in learning more about these things, then please contact me. In the original Blog, I managed to mention, Glyn Wise off Big Brother, setting up a virtual museum in Second Life, a Welsh name for Facebook and numerous other fascinating things. But there we go, such is the ficklelessness of the ether.
The Library at Amgueddfa Cymru 6 July 2007 The library at Amgueddfa Cymru was established many years before the main museum building in Cardiff was formally opened in 1927. The library at Amgueddfa Cymru Miss E. M. Breese, a cataloguer from the adjacent University of Wales, was the first Librarian. Although Miss Breese did not arrive until 1913, the accession books run from 1909. The beginnings of a collection The first item to be accessioned was a copy of John Ward's Handbook of objects from the Roman fort of Gelligaer (John Ward, Curator of Cardiff's museum, later became Keeper of Archaeology at Amgueddfa Cymru). Among the first books purchased in 1909/10 were the Yearbook to learned and scientific societies, Esther Crawford's Cataloguing: suggestions for the small public library and a guide to the House of Commons. The main Library of the Museum, located in National Museum Cardiff, consists of a central, shelved room with accommodation for staff and readers, along with two wings of heavy 1920s mobile racking that are still in use today. The only other known example of such racking, suspended from iron girders, is from old library stacks in the British Museum. The Museum expands As the Library outgrew its original premises, departmental libraries were created. As well as the libraries at National Museum Cardiff, there is a substantial collection at St Fagans National History Museum. The library covering industrial history and archaeology is now in the National Waterfront Museum in Swansea, and there are small collections at the National Slate Museum in Llanberis and the National Roman Legion Museum in Caerleon. All three libraries are administered from National Museum Cardiff. Important and significant collections The Library has attracted some major donations. The most important is the Tomlin library of 17th-century and later books on Mollusca, with several volumes of the finest hand-coloured natural history engravings ever produced. In 1953 the Willoughby Gardner collection arrived, with a number of early printed books on the natural sciences, including herbals and the Museum's only two incunables (books published before 1501) - two editions of Pliny's writings on natural history from 1481 and 1487. As well as Museum staff, the Main Library is often used by external students and the Library can be used by the public by appointment. Special collections As well as general museological and conservation books, special collections are housed in the Main library at National Museum Cardiff. For example, there is a fine collection of Welsh topographical books - mainly published tours of Wales from the 18th and early 19th century, together with some manuscripts. On loan to the library is a set of Gwendoline Davies's own copies of the Gregynog Press books in special bindings. The Library has been acquiring examples of other private press books contemporary with the Gregynog Press, as well as modern private presses in Wales, including Gwasg Gregynog, Old Stile Press and Red Hen Press. The Library continues to actively collect.
The W. J. Grant-Davidson gift of Swansea and English pottery 5 July 2007 In 1994, forty pieces of pottery and porcelain were given to Amgueddfa Cymru. They were the gift of W. J. Grant-Davidson a distinguished historian of the Welsh potteries. Amongst the collection were several unique and important items, manufactured in Swansea in the early 19th century. The Swansea earthenware tankard by William Weston Young. Generous gifts One of the most interesting pieces is a large earthenware tankard. It was made at the Cambrian Pottery, Swansea, in the opening years of the 19th century. It is decorated with the head and shoulders of a druid. We can tell from the inscription that this was painted by William Weston Young (1776-1847). The decoration is unique, though Weston Young also painted a plaque with a druid cutting mistletoe (now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London). William Weston Young William Weston Young worked at the pottery from 1803 until 1806 as a painter and as assistant to the owner, Lewis Weston Dillwyn. A land surveyor by profession, Weston Young was subsequently a partner in the Nantgarw China Works. A pictorial puzzle Other household items in the collection include a milk-pan, egg cups and a jug inscribed 'John Jinken 1793'. There is also a punchbowl decorated with a swan and a pike. This may have been made especially for the Pike family, who came from Dorset and shipped clay to Swansea. An image used as a pun like this is called a rebus. Pioneer potter Mr Grant-Davidson was also interested in English ceramics. There are ten examples from the mid 18th century in the collection he gave to the museum. As well as three fine Staffordshire stoneware teapots, there are two documentary pieces of Josiah Wedgwood's creamware. The collection includes one of the four known pieces of manganese decorated creamware, made by the potter Enoch Booth. Made in the first half of the 1740s, these may be the earliest examples of an earthenware body which is one of Britain's principal contributions to ceramic history. Historian and collector W. J Grant-Davidson was a distinguished historian of the Welsh potteries. He collected British ceramics from the late Middle Ages to the early 20th century. His best known publications are the article 'Early Swansea Pottery, 1764 - 1810' and the book ‘The Pottery of South Wales’. These feature many pieces from his collection.
Collecting the contemporary 14 June 2007 Well, I've taken the plunge, after years of resisting and cynically refusing to believe the hype regarding blogs. Read by millions? Scarcely believe. Change the world? In your dreams. Truth be known, I've just been appointed Curator of Contemporary Life at the National History Museum here at St Fagans, Cardiff, and my job application advocated that all curators should take advantage of new technologies. For example, I stated cockily, they should keep blogs so that the public could have "access" (spot the museum buzz-words) to aspects which will explain the collections.So when this opportunity came along, I thought that I would show the way, although now that I'm actually writing this, I feel quite scared.So, contemporary collecting - what exactly is that? Well, I've decided to split the job in two.The first part will be to work with curators from other fields to fill the gaps in the collections since 1950. We are quite strong on artefacts and oral histories from rural, Welsh speaking, agricultural backgrounds before 1950, but less so on urban, non-Welsh, industrial evidence after 1950, although the building of the Rhyd-y-car cottages, Gwalia Stores and Oakdale Workmen's Institute has begun to rectify that.We will have to be very selective while filling these gaps - the storerooms are bursting at the seams. So the idea is to pick and choose certain items e.g. a super 8 camera, and to weave histories and exhibitions around them.The second part is more problematic. What to collect? We can't collect everything that is produced by this wasteful society of ours, so we have decided to deal with communities, projects, initiatives and themes. This will narrow down the criteria quite nicely, but will also let us focus on certain objects or stories which will encapsulate the age.For example, every six months, a different community will curate objects to be displayed in our Community Dresser. The first group was Penyrenglyn Youth group, who displayed objects such as a Nintendo Gameboy, a signed football and a comfort blanket. The next group will be Johnstown History Group.Another method might be Digital Story telling, which involves capturing pictures on your mobile phone and producing a little film with the result. I'm off to a workshop and conference on this in Aberystwyth next week. I'll let you know how it went.My first big exhibition (hopefully), will be about Welsh Pop Music. I hope to include objects such as instruments, stage props and fanzines, show videos, play sound recordings, and hold rap and recording workshops.Watch this space...
