Press Releases

16 September–8 January 2006

Depicting major Welsh industries from the 1770s to the 1990s - coal, slate, metal, shipping and transport - the exhibition shows how industrial views developed from being part of the romantic landscape tradition into a subject matter in their own right.

Oil paintings and watercolours from the national collections will be on display, featuring early images by artists travelling through Wales such as Sandby and Ibbetson, which capture sublime and dramatic views. There will also be popular ship portraits, commemorative and celebratory works in response to new technology and industry such as John Thomas's A Plain Representation and Cuneo's painting of the Pen-y-Darren locomotive, and works by renowned 20th-century artists such as Graham Sutherland, John Piper and Ceri Richards, commissioned by the government to record industries related to the war effort.

The exhibition also examines women's significant contribution to heavy industries, from the 'copar ledis' (copper ladies), employed to clean and break up copper ore at the Parys Mountain copper mines on Anglesey to female tinplate 'openers' working alongside the male workforce in a gruelling labour-intensive setting.

The National Waterfront Museum in Swansea officially opens its doors for the first time on 18 October to tell the stories of industry and innovation and the impact of the Industrial Revolution on Wales and its people.

Other NMGW sites are the National Museum & Gallery, Cardiff, Museum of Welsh Life, St Fagans, Big Pit: National Mining Museum, Blaenafon - winner of this year's prestigious Gulbenkian Prize - Roman Legionary Museum, Caerleon, National Woollen Museum, Dre-fach Felindre and the Welsh Slate Museum, Llanberis.

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

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