Press Releases

Prominent Welsh art collector honoured

To mark the twentieth anniversary of the death of one Wales' most prominent art collectors, Derek Williams, and to celebrate the relationship between the National Museums & Galleries of Wales and the Derek Williams Trust, a bust of Derek Williams has been commissioned from the Welsh-born sculptor Luke Shepherd.

The National Museum & Gallery is currently showing a special display of work on loan from the Trust and others acquired by the Museum with the Trust's assistance since 1993. Art on show include works by Michael Craig Martin, Howard Hodgkin, David Hockney, Frank Auerbach and Leon Kossoff and contemporary artists from Wales such as Bethan Huws, Iwan Bala and Brendan Stuart Burns.

On his death in 1984, Derek Williams left over seventy pictures and his personal fortune contributed to the setting up of the Derek Williams Trust. The Trust's purpose is 'to advance... appreciation of the arts by the display of works of art made after 1900'. The Trust's funds are used to make additions to the collection, which is on loan to the National Museums & Galleries of Wales and to acquire works in partnership with the museum. It also supports artistic commissions and research.

Derek Mathias Tudor Williams (1930-1984) was educated at Llandaf and Radley and became a chartered surveyor in the family practice based in Cardiff and Pontypridd. During the 1960s Derek Williams began purchasing art mainly from the Howard Roberts Gallery in Cardiff, in particular, the works of British Neo-Romantics artists Ceri Richards and John Piper.

Entry to the National Museum & Gallery, Cardiff is free, thanks to the support of the Welsh Assembly Government.

For further information please contact:
Julie Richards, Press Officer
National Museum & Gallery, Cardiff
Direct line: 029 2057 3185 Mobile: 07876 476695
Email: Julie.richards@museumwales.ac.uk