Category: art
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The memory of Sir Thomas Picton
One of the many noxious elements making up the miasma of Brexiter thinking is exceptionalism. The idea that Britain is naturally superior to other countries, and that it is strong enough to stand alone against every foe, has deep roots – much deeper than the Battle of Britain, so often trundled out by politicians. If…
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Richard Wilson on Cadair Idris
Last week I made my annual pilgrimage to Cadair Idris, which my father-in-law introduced me to as the best mountain walk in Wales, sometime in the late 1970s or early 1980s. As usual I started from Minffordd. After reaching Llyn Cau I circled clockwise round Craig Cau, Pen-y-gadair and Mynydd Moel. Early cloud lifted from…
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William Blake on the moon
Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin may have reached the surface of the moon fifty years ago this week. But William Blake beat them to it, by 176 years. What’s more, he had no use for the sophisticated technologies of the Apollo 11 mission. All he needed was a long ladder. It’s easy for us, in…
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Black boys
On the way to give a talk in Killay Library in Swansea last week I passed a pub I remembered seeing before. It struck me as odd the first time. Not because of its building or location, but because of its name – The Black Boy. Years ago such a name might not have raised…
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‘Very infuriating, never quite right’: Kyffin Williams yr awdur
Diolch o galon i Ymddiriedolaeth Kyffin Williams am y gwahoddiad i draddodi Darlith Flynyddol Kyffin Williams eleni. Rydw i’n ymwybodol o’r darlithoedd rhagorol gan gyfres hir o siaradwyr eraill ar Kyffin. Maen nhw wedi treulio blynyddoedd yn ymchwilio ac yn meddwl am gelf a bywyd Kyffin. Ni allaf honni fy mod yn un o hoelion…
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Three paintings in Vienna
In the Leopold Museum in Vienna, a long wall is covered with small panels that show photographs and short lives of dozens of cultural figures who were active in the city at the start of the twentieth century: Freud, Mahler, Schoenberg, Musil, Wedekind, Klimt and many others – almost all of them well-known today. Only…
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Why isn’t visual art a big thing in Wales?
How healthy are the visual arts in Wales? Not just in the sense of how many or how good are the artists, but other, more contextual questions, such as: How are they valued? How are they supported? How are artists encouraged and trained? How are the arts used to bring new life to depressed communities? …
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Architecture in Wales: a dying art?
John B. Hilling has just published a new book, The architecture of Wales, from the first to the twenty-first century (University of Wales Press, 2018, £27.00). It’s an updating and rewriting of a book he produced in 1976 called The historic architecture of Wales. I bought my copy for £5.50 in Cardiff in December of…
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Sir John Perrot: two faces of a ruffian
One of the images included in Wales in 100 objects is a small oil painting by an unknown artist, now in Haverfordwest Town Museum, of the Elizabethan magnate Sir John Perrot. I chose this particular portrait, painted long after Perrot’s death, because it shows its subject as a jaunty, stylish and dashing character, whereas in…
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In search of 100 objects
September 2018 has turned out to be a month of personal endings. Three weeks ago, after five and a half years of sporadic legwork, we finished the last mile of the Wales Coast Path. This week saw the publication of two books I’ve been working on for what seems almost as long, Wales in 100…