The Museum holds three architectural models of the National Museum Cardiff building.

Four models were made but, the oldest now only exists in a faded sepia photograph, not surprising as it was a fragile paper prototype. The next oldest, the model proper and referred to in hushed tones of reverence as the “original”, is so precious [and enormous] it has been dismantled and packed away in secure, safe storage. The next model is a cool 1960s minimalist Perspex cube with playful, removable plates representing the various floors in the museum building. This is currently in the process of conservation. The fourth and final model, complete with tiny plastic figures, cars, and greenery, was created in 1988 to illustrate the museum’s Courtyard Extension by the Alex Gordon Partnership.

Founded by Royal Charter in 1907, and with location established at Cathays Park in Cardiff, the Museum set an open competition in 1909 for the building’s design. Out of 130 design submissions, the competition was won by the London based architects A. Dunbar Smith & Cecil C. Brewer. The Museum did not intend that the entire building be constructed at once and, favoured a design which would allow parts to be added as funds allowed. The foundation stone was laid by King George V and Queen Mary on 26 June 1912 and in 1913, the building of the superstructure began. As there is no mention of it in the Museum Council Minutes, we can only surmise that most likely this delicate paper model was created and presented to the Museum Council for review by Smith & Brewer.

The original model of the National Museum Wales building on display in the Main Hall in 1957

First mention of the original model appears in the Museum Council Minutes for 1November 1910 – 31 October 1911. They state that a Sub-Committee consisting of the then Chairman, Sir E. Vincent Evans, and the celebrated Welsh sculptor, W. Goscombe John was appointed to begin organising the creation of the model, with power to accept a tender of no more than £200 for its making. Further on, we learn that an estimate of £165 from a Mr. J. Lambert [of London] was accepted. The model was to be of the complete building, built of wood and to a scale of a quarter-of-an-inch to a foot. Further on there is mention that Mr Lambert was working too slowly so he was presented with a deadline for completion of 1 October 1912!

In the Minutes for 27 October 1911 to 22 October 1912, it is stated that the finished model spent two weeks during May 1912 on display in the Petition-room at Westminster Hall and in July was on view in the Temporary Museum, City Hall, Cardiff. The Temporary Museum was a construction erected in the courtyard behind City Hall and used by the Museum for exhibitions until the new building was finished and able to house the collections. It was also sent to the National Eisteddfod [held in Wrexham during 1912]. This burst of marketing and promotion illustrates the importance which was placed on it, the culmination of decades of exhaustive labour leading up to the establishment of Wales’ National Museum. Moreover, it prepared the inhabitants of Cardiff for how extensively the new Museum would physically alter the landscape of the Cathays Park area, nestling between City Hall [built in 1906] on its right and the University [opened in 1883] at its rear.

One of the best photographs of the original model was taken when it was displayed in the Main Hall fifty years later to commemorate the Museum’s Jubilee anniversary in 1957. This photo appears in the Annual Report with the caption, “The Jubilee Exhibition in the centre of the Main Hall. A model showing the museum as it will be when complete is to be seen on the left…”. This appears to be the last time the model was publicly on display.

Images of the original model were used to illustrate various postcards, including this one commemorating the Laying of the Foundation Stone in 1912

 

Perspex box model shown in process of conservation [images courtesy of Jennifer Griffiths, Conservator]

Now, let’s fast forward to the swinging 60s and this next model couldn’t be more different! A clear Perspex box measuring approx. 2 ft square and around 5 inches high, showing the lay-out of floors of the museum building. Commissioned by the Friends of the National Museum Wales as a gift to the Museum Schools Services in 1969 [at a cost of £173] to facilitate explaining the lay-out of the building to groups of school children.

Detail of Perspex box model of National Museum Wales building in Cathays Park shown in process of conservation [images courtesy of Jennifer Griffiths, Conservator]

Model of National Museum Wales [courtyard extension] by the Alex Gordon Partnership 1988

The staff of the Museum Schools Service often give talks to large groups of school children in which they explain the purpose and lay-out of the Museum. On these occasions it has proved difficult to give a clear idea of the location of the principal galleries to a seated audience. The new model provides an admirable aid for this purpose. It is made of clear Perspex and is constructed in such a way so that each “floor” can be re-moved separately for explanatory comments. Each Museum Department has been given a colour code to distinguish it when the model is fully assembled.

Friends of the National Museum Wales, Fifteenth Annual Report, 1969 [page 9].

The designer was Christopher Shurrock [b. 1939], British painter, printmaker, and sculptor who was at that time teaching Foundation Studies in Art at the Cardiff Institute of Higher Education. A prolific a member of the 56 Group Wales and the Royal West of England Academy, during the 1960s his interests lay in researching perception, colour and drawn structures and breaking them down to their most basic form. The model is exemplified in Shurrock’s own words ‘...superficial appearances and mechanisms can delude with too much arbitrary stuff, integral content is often fragile, co-incidence is not necessarily proof, the recurring dilemma is what really needs to be shown...’.

Our final model, as already mentioned, was created to illustrate the museum’s courtyard extension designed by the Alex Gordon Partnership in 1988.

Model of National Museum Wales by the Alex Gordon Partnership 1988 showing courtyard extension [filled-in garden area]

Sir Alexander John Gordon, CBE (1917 – 1999) was a Welsh architect who designed several major buildings in South Wales, notably the Sherman Theatre in Cardiff [1973] and the Telephone exchange extension in Swansea [1971]. He also served as President of the Royal Institute of British Architects from 1971 – 1973. His design for the ‘courtyard extension’ was so named because it involved the filling-in of the space in between the two wings that, in the original architect’s designs was to contain an exterior courtyard garden. However, it was decided instead, in the most basic of terms, to roof over the central area as you can see here.

Architect's paper model of National Museum Wales building in Cathays Park [circa 1910]

Now compare with the original paper model showing the central area open

Architect's paper model of National Museum Wales building in Cathays Park [circa 1910]

These models hold a significant place in our hearts, the earlier ones represent the culmination of the hopes and dreams of the move towards the creation of a Welsh national identity, while the later models celebrate the ever-evolving vision that epitomizes the Museum today.

We are happy to report that the spirit of model making is currently alive and well here at the museum! During lockdown Museum Assistant Jade Fox began recreating in miniature, some of the galleries at National Museum Cardiff. Take a look at this short film where she explains how she began with time on her hands and an old pizza box…

Explore the collections at National Museum Cardiff with our team of volunteers! In this video you will learn more about trilobites with our volunteer Macy.

A large part of our work in the Art Department at Amgueddfa Cymru is researching and working on new acquisitions for the collection. Even with the Museum closed for much of the last 18 months, activity has continued behind the scenes on developing our collections.

With the Museum reopening, we thought we would put together a small group of these new acquisitions in Gallery 11 at National Museum Cardiff that we hope you will enjoy. There is an eclectic mix of work; from Welsh artists, artists working in Wales and some leading national and international figures of modern and contemporary art.

New acquisitions

An individual acquisition can sometimes take months or even years to complete, with a great deal of work going into research and fundraising. We are incredibly grateful to artists and individuals who often donate work to us, and also to Trusts and Foundations who help us to buy pieces – and in particular the Derek Williams Trust. So, while some of the new works that are on display in have arrived at the Museum over the past few months, many have been worked on by curators for 2-3 years in some cases.

Also, what is currently on show is actually a small fraction of what has been collected over the last year or two. The development of the Art Collection has been an ongoing, century long project – one that never stops and is key to the Amgueddfa Cymru collections more generally remaining relevant and dynamic. That said, there is a great deal more to do in terms of what our collection says about Wales in the 21^st century as the National Collection of today is also an important artistic and historic resource for future generations.

Below is some information on each of the new works on display. But what better way to appreciate them than by coming to the Museum and seeing them in person!

The organic and the systemic

Magdalene Odundo, Asymmetric I, 2016, terracotta
Purchased with support from Art Fund and the Derek Williams Trust
© Magdalene Odundo

Magdalene Odundo’s impressive terracotta vessel Asymmetric I has a strong anthropomorphic character. It seems to allude to a pregnant female body and promise new life. Odundo draws on African traditions to emphasise the power of pots to heal.

In contrast to Odundo’s organic making style, David Saunders, in works like Black Transformation (1973-74, oil on canvas), relies on logical and mathematical processes to produce a systematic method of creating work.

 

Shaped by life experiences

Gareth Griffith, Bertorelli, 2019, mixed media
© Gareth Griffith

A strong theme of this display is the way that artists draw on their own experiences, either their own life histories or in response to the landscapes and histories of Wales. Gareth Griffith’s Bertorelli recalls his childhood memory of a double portrait in the Bertorelli ice cream parlour in Caernarfon. He later purchased the portrait and reworked it into this piece.

 

 

Exploring the landscape

Mary Lloyd Jones
Pwerdy Ceunant (2019)

Mary Lloyd Jones’s abstract paintings explore the landscape as a place of memory, culture, and identity. Ysgwrn (2018) is named after the farm where poet Hedd Wyn (1887-1917) grew up prior to being killed in the First World War, while the place names and calligraphic signs in Pwerdy Ceunant (2019) allude to Coelbren y Beirdd, the alphabet that Iolo Morganwg invented and claimed was that of the ancient bards.

 

 

Urban and industrial Wales

Bernd and Hilla Becher’s Preparation Plants, 1966-1974 (gelatin silver prints)

Urban and industrial Wales are an equal source of artistic inspiration. In Winter Night with Angharad no.7 (2006, oil and plaster on board), Roger Cecil (born into a mining family from Abertillery) draws parallels between the landscape and the human body. Bernd and Hilla Becher’s Preparation Plants, 1966-1974 (gelatin silver prints) is one of their typologies, a grid of nine photographs of a single type of industrial structure that was once a familiar feature of the industrial ecosystem of the south Wales Valleys.

André Stitt’s Municipal Wall Relief for a Housing Complex in a Parallel Universe (2015-16; oil, acrylic and enamel on wood panels) also looks back to what now seems a bygone age, capturing the modernist optimism of post-war architecture and town-planning.

 

Plan your visit

These artworks are now on display for the first time in the art galleries in National Museum Cardiff. Access to the museum is free, but you will need to pre-book a free ticket in advance. Please see our Plan Your Visit page for more information.

 

With thanks

Amgueddfa Cymru is grateful to Mary Lloyd Jones, David Saunders, the estate of Roger Cecil, Art Fund, the Derek Williams Trust and the Henry Moore Foundation for their generosity in making these acquisitions possible.

Winter 2020. Nearly a year into the pandemic which rocked everyone's life. In the middle of a second raft of restrictions – all normal activities, group meetings, trips to see family, shopping even, put on hold for an indeterminate time – life was stagnating somewhat.

One of the many wonderful things about living in this part of Wales – as well as the space, the quiet, the beauty (with a view of the Preseli Hills), learning Welsh and interacting with the Welsh community – was the National Wool Museum, only a few miles down the road. With added leisure time now I was retired, I could indulge my obsession with all things sheep and wool-related. I became a craft volunteer at the museum, meeting with a group of spinners every week to spin, learning new things, meeting the wide range of visitors and joining in museum events. The museum and cafe staff were always friendly and welcoming, willing to indulge and encourage my attempts at Welsh. It felt like a second home. The pandemic put an end to that.

How exciting it was, then, when I saw the museum adverting for volunteers to transcribe answers to questionnaires, some filled out fifty years ago. I consider myself privileged to have been accepted to join the 'team'. Transcribing from handwritten documents – in Welsh- has been quite a challenge, but an enjoyable one. My dictionary and Google Translate have helped me check if what I am transcribing makes sense and there is a great sense of achievement when a seemingly unreadable word suddenly fits the sentence. I am learning many words that Welsh speakers may or may not know but are new to me. Do people here still know the meaning of 'sucan'? Whilst its English equivalent, given as 'gruel', conjures up the privations of poor orphans such as Oliver Twist, the Welsh sucan appears to have been somewhat of a treat at harvest time. I haven't found anyone around here yet who has heard of a room called a 'rhwmbwrdd' (is it a dining room?)

Many documents reply in a basic manner to questions about daily meals and work routines, with a noticeable lack of variation in diet (mostly 'cawl', a broth kept on the go, added to and reheated for several days' meals) and basics such as family clothing paid for by selling hand-knitted socks or eggs, but some have more detail. I am learning about which wood is most suitable for different parts of a cart (ash for the axle, oak for the wheel spokes), how neighbours helped each other with workload rather than giving presents and other customs that have died out or changed since the early 20th century. I have spoke to local people, some of whom know nothing of 'Calennig', and others who explain it as a custom for children akin to Halloween, but at the turn of the century (in the Preseli area at least) it was the old women, widowed or unmarried, who went round the village collecting small presents of money at New Year. Is there anyone now who knows that children would roam the fields in early spring trying to get a sight of the first lamb, called 'Dafad Las' (blue sheep) for which they would be rewarded with the sum of three pence? In the Welsh way, many people were referred to by their name followed by the name of their house or farm, which means it is possible to locate the properties mentioned by an internet search. It is interesting to note that several of these houses are now pictured as ruins or are listed as holiday accommodation.

It has been – it is – a lovely way to stay connected to Wales, past and present, as well as helping with my Welsh learning and giving me a chance to contribute to the work of the museum and preserve Welsh memories.