Press Releases

A new exhibition from Amgueddfa Cymru-National Museum Wales exploring the art of the British landscape over four centuries opens on 7 May 2015, at the Frick Art and Historical Center, Pittsburgh, Pensylvania. Pastures Green & Dark Satanic Mills: The British Passion for Landscape will offer audiences in the United States a rare opportunity to follow this peculiarly British art form and the exhibition travels to three venues in the US over the next year. The exhibition was recently displayed at the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach in Florida from December to April 2015.

Organised by Amgueddfa Cymru –National Museum Wales in partnership with the American Federation of Arts (AFA), the exhibition comprises paintings, drawings and photographs selected from Wales’national art collection most never been seen in the USA before, by Tim Barringer - Paul Mellon Professor of the History of Art at Yale University, and Oliver Fairclough - Keeper of Art, Amgueddfa Cymru.

Pastures Green & Dark Satanic Mills: The British Passion for Landscape will travel to four venues:

• •        Frick Art and Historical Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (7 May – 2 August 2015)
• •        Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Salt Lake City, Utah (27 August – 13 December 2015)
• •        Princeton University Art Museum, New Jersey (23 January – 24 April 2016)

The exhibition explores a story that that begins in the 1600s and spans the age of the Industrial Revolution and the art of the nineteenth century, to the postmodern and post-industrial present.

While featuring some great masterpieces from Amgueddfa Cymru’s collection, the exhibition will also offer new insights into the development of landscape painting in Wales as well as into British art and culture more broadly. The exhibition will be divided into six thematic sections, allowing thought-provoking comparisons. Over 80 works, including major oil paintings will be seen alongside works on paper drawn from the Museum’s collection of drawings, photographs and watercolours.

Pastures Green & Dark Satanic Mills will include works by many artists from Britain and beyond who found inspiration in the British landscape including Thomas Gainsborough, Joseph Wright of Derby, Richard Wilson, Augustus John, John Constable, J. M. W. Turner, Alfred Sisley, Claude Monet, and Oskar Kokoschka.

David Anderson, Director General of Amgueddfa Cymru, said,

“We are delighted to be able to present this important exhibition on British landscape painting to four venues in the US, offering visitors the chance to see these magnificent works of art for the first time.

“This is the second occasion that Amgueddfa Cymru has partnered with the American Federation of Arts, following the highly successful 2009-10 North American tour of ‘Turner to Cezanne: Masterpieces from the Davies Collection’.

“This international partnership will give American audiences the chance to learn more about British painting and the Welsh landscape, through works selected entirely from Wales’ national art collection. We hope that Pastures Green and the publicity it generates will inspire more people from the United States to visit Wales.”

Ken Skates, Deputy Minister for Culture, Sport and Tourism, said, “I am delighted that this prestigious exhibition will be touring in the U.S. Our arts bodies and museums do a great deal to boost tourism and raise the profile of Wales in the world. Building on the success of the recent Davies Sisters’ tour, this latest exhibition promises to showcase Wales to new audiences.”

Amgueddfa Cymru –National Museum Wales operates seven museums across Wales including National Museum Cardiff, St Fagans: National History Museum, the National Roman Legion Museum, Big Pit: National Coal Museum, the National Wool Museum, the National Slate Museum and the National Waterfront Museum.

Entry to the Museum is free, thanks to the support of the Welsh Government.