NEWSLETTER
The Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Alexandra Road, Swansea, SA1 5DZ
E-mail: [email protected]
Telephone: 01792 516900
Friends of the Glynn Vivian
www.friendsoftheglynnvivian.com
WINTER 2016
@FriendsGlynnViv
Vera Bassett: A Rare and Endearing Artist
It is very evident from looking at her work that one of her great
concerns was with people in general but women in particular –
their form and dress, their presence in varying social situations
and especially with the cares and burdens which they shouldered.
An example of this is seen in (fig.2) where a mother with her
shopping bag full and her charge safely at her side are sheltering
under an umbrella. Note the artist’s attention to fashion – the fur
collar and the half belt! The painting is characteristic of her astute
social observations which when given the theatre that existed in
her mind are transformed by her paintbrush into visual delight.This
theme is only one of many themes that are explored in the book
and it is hoped that its publishing will be the means to introduce
many to the enchantment that is contained within the work of
Elizabeth Vera Bassett.
© Donald Treharne 2016
(fig.1) Vera Bassett Children at Play watercolour c.19 50
© The artist’s estate © photo. Donald Treharne 2016
The Summer 2016 Newsletter referred to the fact that I was writing a book
about the artist Vera Bassett (1912 – 1997) who was born in Pontarddulais;
by now the book has been prepared and its launch in the Gallery has been
arranged for Saturday 8 April 2017. It grew from a lecture I delivered to the
Friends some years ago and after considerable research evolved into the
book which is to be called A Rare and Endearing Artist. It will be published
by the Friends and funded in part by the Friends, the author, a valuable
legacy from the late Anne Morris and a generous contribution from CASW,
the Contemporary Art Society for Wales. The book will be on sale in the
Gallery shop and also by mail order. All sales revenue will be used by the
Friends in their support of the Gallery. It is not meant to be the definitive
monograph on her life and work but as an informed introduction to the
details of her life and the copious illustrations will underline the great
variety and delight which is to be found there. The children playing (fig.1)
illustrates her ability to convey the joie de vivre and movement of a group;
it is one of her early paintings and probably dates from about 1950.
I was fortunate during the preparations to have access to a small archive
of her personal correspondence and her letters were a treasure trove of
interest. At the very beginning of her career a letter written to her on 7
December 1949 by a gentleman from Loughor refers to two of her paintings
that he had recently bought in an un-named exhibition. He was effusive in
his praise of them and in the letter he asked Vera to visit him at his home
when he would like her opinion of his art collection which included “works
by David Jones, Sickert, Edward Lear, Spencer Gore etc”. He ends the letter
by saying “I think you may decide that your work is in good company”. This
was often the case for her work in the fifties and sixties of the last century
when, for example, in 1965 at The Leicester Galleries in Audely Square,
London W1 in their Exhibition No. 1298 one of her paintings was hung next
to one by Augustus John; this in an exhibition that also included works by
John Nash, Jacob Epstein, W.R. Sickert and John Piper.
(fig.2) Vera Bassett Untitled ink and watercolour c.1980
© The artist’s estate © photo. Donald Treharne 2016
Registered Charity No. 516492
1
The Work of Glenys Cour
returns obsessively to previous themes: the landscapes and skies of
Gower and Swansea Bay, flowers in a room, Welsh legends; and to the
favoured, familiar media: oil paint, watercolour, gouache, collage; always
with distinctive abstract elements of colour, form and texture.
A change in direction or mode may be prompted by a chance
encounter, by a commission, by an epiphany, or by the experience – in
a street, in a gallery, in a book − of a particular culture, such as that
of ancient Greece, the mythical Wales of the Mabinogion, or modern
Morocco. A neighbour’s gift of a shell, an evening walk, reading a poem
by Vernon Watkins, a visit to a Greek museum, a commission to
design a production of Verdi’s Aida, a Marrakesh doorway, a Christmas
morning visitation of a butterfly at the window. Each and all of these
things have sparked in Cour an impulse to experiment and invent
anew.
Glenys Cour The Wave 2007 oil on canvas
© The artist © photo. Prim 2017
The work of Glenys Cour has behind it always an intense imaginative
recollection of actual experience; it may attain to fantasy or abstraction but
its ground will be in a known actuality. Her paintings and collages may be
unrestricted by descriptive exactitude, but their colours and forms are always
evocations or intimations of a particular time, a real place, objects in a familiar
room: sunset on a Gower headland, moonlight on an incoming wave, lamplight
on a vase of flowers.
In the landscape and seashore paintings of the late 1970s and early
‘80s, she depicted her subjects with a characteristic economy of form
and colour that is evocative of inner feeling rather than naturalistically
descriptive of specific topographies. Cour recalls these paintings
as having been ‘inspired’ by the landscape, implying that in certain
respects they begin in the experience of place but depart from it: “In
retrospect I realise that they speak of my mood at that time: sad and
reflective.” They may be seen perhaps as elegies for her husband, the sculptor
Ronald Cour, who died in 1978. Such an expressive impulse required something
more than a naturalistic treatment of traditional subject matter. Her landscape
paintings have continued to transmute topographies into moods: shadowed
hillsides and pathways into diurnal mysteries, moonlit shores and the white
flash of breaking waves into nocturnal visions.
As an artist, she has always worked in series, pursued a subject obsessively
until she feels she has, for the time being, exhausted the seam. Then she turns
to something else: a new theme, a new medium. And over time, of course, she
Glenys Cour Maquettes for Festival Posters
© The artist © photo. Malcolm Hill 2017
Collection of the artist
Glenys Cour Flowers in a vase 2013
© The artist © photo. Prim 2017
oil on canvas
c.1990s
And, indeed, it is from that time in the late ‘70s that colour above all becomes
the soul of her painting. It is a particular kind of heightened colour, found in the
histories of painting, especially in the chromatic simplifications of Nolde, Matisse,
de Stael, and in the translucent brilliancies of stained glass, ancient and modern. It
is colour discovered in the act of painting itself, within the studio, in the physical
materials of her art: Cour is not concerned with the limitations of naturalistic
tonality. This may be why her extraordinary sketchbooks of observation and
impression in the field are invariably made in quick charcoal black on white:
2
imagination and creative action will provide the music of colour, it is found in the
paint tube and within the improvised play of the composition itself.
Her pictorial art is shaped, then, by a constantly quick and lively apprehension
of the world around her, a hyper-sensitive visual response to variegations
of changing daylight, the colour radiance of flowers, the gleam and glitter of
the sea in moonlight, the varying configurations of hillside slope and valley
declivity as seen from the windscreen of a moving car. Such fleeting memories
and impressions are held in the mind’s eye and distilled through a distinctive
aesthetic that favours extremes of hue and variations of texture, and that has
been schooled by a disciplined understanding of colour relations in both nature
and in art.
For in Cour’s later work it is almost as if the subjects – conventional enough –
became pretexts for something more than mere colour abstraction, however
dynamic these concentrated recollections of intense colour-luminosity may be.
In every case, the actual − a moorland track, an ancient gold bowl, a red boat
in the bay, a Celtic decoration, a vase of brilliant flowers − is released from the
light of common day and assumed into the order of myth, the timeless reality
of art. This poetic propensity is what gives Cour’s stained glass designs, and her
occasional graphic work − her designs for the theatre (especially for Under
Milk Wood), her illustrations for books (especially the marvellous Taliesin and
the Mockers) and even her Swansea festival posters (each one a little festival in
itself) – such vitality and lasting worth.
Glenys Cour and Lisa Burkl Rose Window 1992 stained glass
© The artists © photo. Phil Rees 2016
City & County of Swansea: Glynn Vivian Art Gallery Collection
what I see as its underlying thematic and aesthetic coherence. This creative
unity derives from her rootedness in the poetic, musical, theatrical and artistic
culture of Swansea and South Wales at a time of extraordinary achievement. For
Cour was closely connected, in terms of friendship, professional engagement
or imaginative sympathy with many of that mid-century galaxy of exceptional
creative talents, which included Ceri Richards, Alfred Janes, Dylan Thomas, Dan
Jones, Vernon Watkins, and Ron Cour among others. She played a significant
rôle, moreover, under the leadership of Tim Lewis, in the development of an
internationally recognised department of architectural glass at Swansea College
of Art, four of whose most brilliant alumni are represented in the exhibition.
This intense relation to the city and its most gifted artists, to its natural
environs and its art and art school, has made Glenys Cour one of Swansea’s
most cherished artists. The exhibition reflects and celebrates this special and
enduring presence.
© Mel Gooding 2017
Glenys Cour Under Milk Wood 1985
mixed media collage © The artist
City & County of Swansea:
Glynn Vivian Art Gallery Collection
In the Glynn Vivian exhibition, Glenys Cour: The Colour of Saying, I have sought
to showcase the whole range of Cour’s work, in widely different media, in
an immediately spectacular manner, to bring out, with clarity of presentation,
Glenys Cour at the opening of her exhibition
Glynn Vivian Art Gallery 10 December 2016
© photo. Phil Rees 2016
The Colour of Saying
3
Glynn Vivian Art Gallery Opening Events: 14 and 15 October 2016
The Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Opening Night, 14 October 2016
The Glynn Vivian Art Gallery opened its doors to a large gathering of
artists, supporters and Friends on Friday 14 October 2016, officially to
unveil and celebrate the achievements of the new art gallery design by
Powell Dobson Architects.
The Gallery was formally opened by the Rt Honourable Carwyn Jones,
First Minister for Wales, together with Rob Stewart, Leader of Swansea
Council, and eminent guest speakers, Dr Phil George, Chair of the Arts
Council of Wales and Baroness Kay Andrews, of the Heritage Lottery
Fund.
The major redevelopment, funded by the Arts Council of Wales,
Welsh Government, CADW and Swansea Council with the support
of the Heritage Lottery Fund, helped to conserve the original 1911
building and 1970s extension and improve access for all. The new
facilities - including two new Gallery spaces, new collection stores
and conservation studios, a Library and archive facility and dedicated
spaces for learning and engagement, now provide a vibrant and
inspiring destination art gallery of international significance.
Atrium during speeches
Loans from the Tate of paintings by J.M.W. Turner and Pablo Picasso
were on display amidst the Gallery’s own unique collection of 19th and
20th century Welsh art. On behalf of Tate, Helen Cooper, spoke of the
significance of the Plus Tate partnership, to which the Gallery belongs,
which enables work to be shared throughout the UK.
The opening contemporary exhibition, Out of Darkness, took a sharp
post-colonial view of the world, with eminent artists with whom the
Gallery has worked before - such as Oscar Munoz from Colombia,
William Kentridge from South Africa, Ying Mei Duan from China,
Mark Wallinger from England and Cerith Wyn Evans from Wales –
together with an important 20th century work by Marcel Duchamp
on loan from Tate, which encapsulated the theme of Journeys running
throughout the Gallery, with La Boite en valise – a personal ‘museum’
in a suitcase.
The Gallery’s initial focus has been on Swansea in a local-global
context aiming to support art and artists, empower audiences and
connect communities through a new thematic synergy between the
collections, exhibitions and learning programmes.
With the support of the Heritage Lottery Fund focus groups, it was
agreed the Gallery should pay tribute to its founder Richard Glynn
Vivian on re-opening, commemorating over 100 years of his legacy, and
the gift his collection ‘for the enjoyment of the people of Swansea’. Glynn
Vivian had spent his life travelling the world by rail and steamship, and
collecting art, in the 19th century.
Welsh 20th century works from the Glynn Vivian Collection
4
Ten Drawings by Leonardo da Vinci
Atrium with installation by Lindsay Seers Nowhere Less Now7
© The artist
With a focus on journeys, an installation and film in the form of an
upturned ship called Nowhere Less Now7 by international artist Lindsay
Seers, has also been installed in the Gallery’s Atrium area, courtesy of
The Artangel Collection.
Ghazoul, Joan Jones, Aled Simons and Fern Thomas, over 350 people
made their way to the sound of music and drums from the Gallery’s
temporary home for the last 5 years at the YMCA back home to the
Gallery.
The final speech was delivered by Jonathan Marsden, Director of the
Royal Collection Trust, who had generously presented at the Gallery
an exhibition of Ten Drawings by Leonardo da Vinci, and who was pleased
to be part of this special moment in the Gallery’s distinguished history.
The Gallery, which attracted over 10,000 visitors in the first few weeks
of opening, owes its warmest thanks to many people in Swansea and
further afield, but above all it is great the doors are open again to offer
a warm welcome at the beginning of the next 50 years to come!
With its aim of reaching out to our communities in Swansea, a major
Opening Parade followed the next day on Saturday 15 October, which
brought the traffic to a halt in the city centre. Dressed in costumes
which they had made themselves in workshops led by artists such as
Zanne Andrea, Anna Barratt, Louise Bird, Megan Broadmeadow, Rabab
All images © photo. Phil Rees 2016 unless indicated otherwise
Georgia Williams, Soozy Roberts and Lorraine Robbins present
The Swan Tours Experience © photo. Soozy Roberts 2016
© Laura Sims 2016
Marketing Officer (Audience Development),
Glynn Vivian Art Gallery
A section of the Parade leaving Swansea YMCA
5
The Richard Glynn Vivian Bequest: A Researcher’s Perspective
Back in 2009, before the closure of the Glynn Vivian for redevelopment,
Kirstine Dunthorne and myself became involved in The Beacon
Research Project, a pilot study for a programme of research into the
Richard Glynn Vivian Bequest, which was later supported by a generous
grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The brief was to examine the
part of the bequest that included over one hundred oil paintings, several
hundred watercolours and assorted prints and drawings, to ascertain
which works would be suitable for restoration and display when the
Gallery reopened. It turned out to be a prolonged and difficult task.
Not only was the condition of some of the oil paintings poor but the
majority lacked serious provenance. After examining every single work
we decided that to make the task more manageable we would split
our duties with Kirstine researching the European works and myself
researching the British School oils and watercolours.
In
our
hunt
for
provenance, all of Richard
Glynn Vivian’s diaries
and account books were
examined at Cardiff
Central Library, which
holds his collection of
nearly fifty items.
In addition experts were
contacted and catalogues
and
biographies
of
particular artists were
consulted. Sales records
of auction houses, archival
material of dealers and
municipal art galleries
were also examined.
The Bequest contains
pictures of a type which
could have been found in
(fig.1) Penry Williams (1802-1885) after
other non- aristocratic
Guido Reni (1575-1642)
collections throughout
The Massacre of the Innocents c.1827
the British Isles in the
oil on canvas 38 cms x 23 cms
late Victorian period. All
manufactured objects, be
they for domestic use or
are deemed as ‘fine art,’ are, in many ways, symbols of the class of
person who purchased or commissioned them. Richard Glynn Vivian’s
British School pictures reveal a man with newly-acquired industrial
wealth who had a desire and need to become engaged in the world of
fine art collecting. It must be assumed that he received pleasure from
the ownership of the various works that he collected and displayed
in his properties in Swansea and London. Part of that pleasure must
surely have come from connecting with the wider world of visual
culture and being perceived by his peers as being a man of taste, even
if this taste was of a rather predictable and conforming nature. The
question of ‘artistic taste’ is a contentious issue for, in reality, what
other type of collection could a man such as Richard Glynn Vivian have
assembled?
The British School Pictures
At first glance the small religious copies of Italian paintings by Welsh
artist Penry Williams may not appear to be that significant, however
from an art historian’s perspective, it can be claimed that they are the
most interesting and important British School pictures that Richard
Glynn Vivian purchased. These are The Assumption of the Virgin (GV72);
The Massacre of the Innocents (GV73) (fig.1); The Adoration of the Magi
(GV74); St. John (GV75); The Vision of St. Bruno - previously known as
The Vision of St. Francis - (GV76); The Visitation (GV77) and Two Saints
(GV78). Their importance lies in the fact that they were produced
by a Welsh artist at a time when it was not likely there were many
other Welsh artists working in Italy, as Williams was, or at least known
to have been working in Italy. This is a very under-researched field of
study. They are also unique in the fact that no other such collection of
Williams’ religious subject matter pictures exists, either in private or
public collections, as far as the writer can ascertain.
When Richard Glynn Vivian was in the process of putting together
his collection, scholarship on old master paintings was somewhat
limited and, of course, he would not have benefited from colour
reproductions or information that is so forthcoming today through
electronic media. The suspicion is that he bought on impulse which
would chime with his rather emotional nature. His purchase of
the three Richard Wilson oil paintings - The White Monk (GV131),
Landscape with Old Castle (GV14) and River Scene in Italy (GV16) - fall
into the category of uncertain provenance. Wilson was a popular
and much-copied artist and even today, with the luxury of hindsight,
it is extremely difficult to detect the genuine article from some of
the quality ‘style of’ pictures, which these three undoubtedly are.
One other British School oil painting purchase he made, Lord Ellesmere
and Pony (GV15) supposedly painted by that immensely popular
Victorian artist, Edwin Landseer, can also be included in this category.The
two oils, Peter Lely’s Princess Anne (GV21) and The Countess of Bedford
(GV22) are unlikely to be by the hand of this artist but, nevertheless, are
(fig.2) George Chambers (1803-1840) View of Swansea Castle 1836
Watercolour 24 cms x 30 cms
6
important period pictures
that can be classified as
‘circle of Michael Dahl’
and ‘circle of Mary Beale’
respectively and make a
really interesting addition
to the collection.
(fig.3) French School
(attribution unknown)
Portrait of a French Gentleman c.1790
oil on canvas 77 cms x 64 cms
(photographed during restoration)
The addition of the
two Lord Leighton oil
paintings to his collection,
Coast Scene (GV 70) and
Landscape (GV71) again
connect to his travels
and although they are
somewhat ‘slight’ and
sketchy in nature are
typical of that which
Leighton produced whilst
abroad. There is little
doubt, now, that these two
works are by Leighton.
When it came to the
question of provenance,
Richard Glynn Vivian was on safer ground with his purchase of
watercolours.The pictures by A. Copley Fielding, Landscape-Sunset (GV
205); John Callow, Ship Ashore (GV225); R. P. Bonington, On the Seine, Paris
(GV228) are all by the hand of the forgoing artists. George Chambers,
View of Swansea Castle (GV227) (fig.2); T. M. Richardson, Windsor Lock
(GV222); T. M. Richardson, Lake Scene (GV232); Samuel Prout, Old
Gateway, Calais (GV201); Edward Lear, Athens (GV248); Edward Lear,
Kadig on the Nile (GV251). All these watercolours, it is fairly certain to
say, are ‘genuine’. Many fake ‘Prouts’ and ‘Boningtons’ were produced
but these two would appear to be ‘safe’. The interesting point about
these watercolours is that they can be understood, possibly, as
mementos of Richard Glynn Vivian’s travels to Calais, the Italian Lakes,
Paris, Greece and Egypt and also were reminders of his home, Swansea
(View of Swansea Castle) and his old school, Eton (Windsor Lock).
The European Oil Pictures
From the European collection fifty-one works were selected as
worthy of further investigation and/or conservation. One of the most
interesting is Portrait of a French Gentleman c.1790 (GV23) (fig.3)
(photographed during restoration) which is listed in the original Glynn
Vivian catalogue as ‘Early British School’. Kirstine concluded that the
painting is likely to be by an unknown French artist and describes the
image as a “smiling young man with lightly-powdered curls and a warm,
direct gaze”. William Grant Murray, the Gallery’s first curator went so
far as to describe it as “the finest portrait in the collection”.
be a variant of a painting in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford that
is also by Scarsella. The beautifully executed Susanna and the Elders
(GV37) (fig.4), was purchased by Richard Glynn Vivian in Paris from
the collection of Gustave Doré. Originally described as by Guido Reni
(1575-1642) it is now thought, perhaps, to be by an assistant of Reni,
Giovan Giacomo Sementi (1583-1640).
The life study of a muscular youth formerly attributed to Caravaggio
(GV50) is now considered to be by an unknown 18th Century Italian
painter. Kirstine has noted:
“Academic drawings of the male nude are common in 18th Century Italy, but
painted life studies like this are rare”. This is probably one of the paintings
described by Richard Glynn Vivian in his will as “two very fine studies of men
hanging in the passage outside my bedroom at Sketty Hall”.
(fig.4) Follower of Guido Reni (1575-1642), possibly Giovan Giacomo
Sementi (1583-1640)
Susanna and the Elders c.1610-1620 oil on canvas 121 cms x 151 cms
We are privileged in Swansea to have this collection and grateful for
the generous financial support of the Heritage Lottery Fund. We are
also privileged to have a gallery management which is willing to give
the time and effort to put in place a comprehensive conservation and
research programme that will benefit the wider community as part of
the learning and engagement programme at the newly redeveloped
gallery.
(All images courtesy of City & County of Swansea: Glynn Vivian Art
Gallery Collection)
© Dr Barry Plummer 2016
Researcher, Beacon Research Project, Glynn Vivian Art Gallery
Also of interest is The Holy Family (GV 26), a late 16th Century painting
attributed to Ippolito Scarsella (c.1550- 1620), a Ferrarese artist.
When Richard Glynn Vivian bought it at the Duke of Marlborough’s
sale in 1886 it was labelled Ludovico Carracci. It is now thought to
7
Glynn Vivian 2016 Fund
The Friends of the Glynn Vivian held a fundraising campaign
between March and October 2016 to support the new Gallery
in three key areas, conservation, education and the publication
of a new visitor’s guide.
The total amount raised was £74,440, made up of donations
from Friends and others together with the proceeds from an
auction of donated artworks.
I would like to thank those who made donations and also the
artists who donated works for the Art Auction (all are listed
below). I would also like to thank the many donors who wished
to remain anonymous.
David and Antonia George
Alice Laing
John Cooper
Bethan Healey
Eryl Jenkins
John Upton
Jane and Kim Harrison
Timothy and Irene Fearnside
David Murfin
Gabrielle Suff
Roger and Ruth Parmiter
Rosina Davies
Eurwen Price
Alan and Gill Figg
John Isaac
Glenys Cour
Deanna Harding
Bryn and Mary Roberts
Brian and Margaret Clarkson
Raymond and Janet Walker
John Law
Margaret Davies
Stephen Foot
Hilary Rose
Margaret Morris
Margaret Body
Huw and Angela Maddock
Ursula Clavin Thomas
David and Sandy Roe
Richard Taylor
Andrew Green and Carys Evans
Henry and Judy Barnes
Barry Rees
Russ Harris
Lyndon Jones
Paul and Hazel Dixon
Dalit Leon
Jonathan Powell
Graham Parker
Pete Davis
Paul Duerinckx
Ann Jordan
Andrea Liggins
Eva Bartussek
Kate Bell
Chris Bird Jones
Robert Harding
Ryan Moule
Charles Hampshire
Carolyn Little
Lee Williams
Zena James
Soozy Roberts
Alan Roberts
Daniel Trivedy
Claire Francis
Brenda Oakes
Audrey Lane
Alan Perry
Amir Nejad
Alex Duncan
Ryan Courtier
Helen Sear
Elliot Mudd
Daniel Staveley
Tim Davies
Sigrid Muller
Sarah Tierney
Jonathan Anderson
Jane Bennett
Carys Roberts
Hilary Stanworth
Thanks to your generosity, the revenue from the Fund will
provide increased resources to assist the new Glynn Vivian Art
Gallery in its operation.
To date, the Fund revenue has been used to purchase furniture
for the new Learning Studio and produce the catalogue, Glenys
Cour: The Colour of Saying.
Many thanks to you all,
© Malcolm Hill, Friends Treasurer, 2016
Bill and Pat Marshall
John and Georgina Harding
Judy Nettleship
Ros Castell
Gary Iles
Catriona Waldron
Valerie Beynon
Judy Ganz
Mary Uzzell Edwards
Geoffrey and Maureen Thomas
Lord Swansea
Richard Allison
Thomas Methuen-Campbell
Patricia Macdonald
Pamela Davies
Godfrey and Alison Lewis
Guto and Margaret ap Gwent
Dianne Edwards
Jane Hypher
Jean Williams
Donald and Nesta Treharne
Peter and Elizabeth Stead
Peter Raynor
Dafydd Williams and Mari Evans
David Smith
Constance Hill
Jenny Sabine
Robert Hastie
Gay Owen-Lloyd
Malcolm and Rachel Hill
Richard and Doreen Wood
Donald and Catherine Graham
Valerie Parry
David and Angela George
the late Helen Zienkiewicz
Olive Midha
Jackie Ford
Jane Jones
Harriet Popham
Hazel Lim
Judith Stroud
Ceri Barclay
Barry Plummer
Dick Chappell
Brendan Stuart Burns
Richard Higlett
Tim Warren
Stephen Hughes
Tim Kelly
Nick Holly
Louise Burston
Hannah Downing
George Little
Sam Chapman
James Iles
Panny Hallas
Eifion Sven-Myer
Julia Hopkins
David Barron
Alan Williams
Jane Simpson
Keith Bayliss
Mary McCrae
Vivienne Williams
Nikki Cass
Christine Jones
Sarah Tombs
Mandy Lane
Gareth Thomas
Will Nash
Ceri Thomas
Stuart Cole
100 Club News
The lucky winners this time are as follows:-
September
October
number 78
67
Muriel Clement
Margaret B. Jones
Pamela Davies
Donald Treharne
84
48
£25
£10
November
£25
£10
December
31 30
Margaret McCloy
£25
Judith Ganz
£10
78 01
Muriel Clement
Robin Paisey
£25
£10
Please continue contributing and you might be lucky next time!
© Hilary Rose, 100 Club Promoter
I have received a standing order from Thomas UIC but I have no address. If it
is you, could you let me know in case you win a prize!
16 Kilfield Road, Bishopston, Swansea, SA3 3DL. Tel. (01792) 232808
8
Sir Leslie Joseph Young Artist Award 2017
It is very exciting to announce that the biennial Sir Leslie Joseph Young Artist
Award was re-launched in November 2016. The Award is a joint venture
between the Friends of the Glynn Vivian and the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery,
made possible by a generous donation received from the late Sir Leslie Joseph.
The winner, aged between 25 and 31 and educated in Wales, will be given the
opportunity to hold his/her first professional exhibition at the Gallery from
April to June 2017.
The Award has grown in status and prestige since its inception in 1996. Daniel
Molloy was the first to win the award in 1996, and went on to be a successful
filmmaker. In 1998 it was won by James Donovan whose paintings have been
exhibited widely across Wales and the UK. In 2000 the Award was withheld.
Sculptor and artist Will Nash won in 2001 and has exhibited regularly since
then in both group and solo exhibitions. Nash was followed by Tomas Lewis in
2003, whose exhibition consisted of a video installation contrasting speech, text
and image. The painter Richard Monahan won in 2005 with his powerful and
provoking self-portraits. The multi-media artist Soozy Roberts was the winner
in 2007. Roberts explores over-exposed everyday symbols and stereotypes in a
bid to playfully poke fun at a world that is “full to bursting with visual matter”.
The most recent winner was Heather Phillipson in 2009, whose current work
includes solo projects at the Whitechapel Gallery, London; Frieze Projects
New York; Images Festival Toronto; 32nd São Paolo Biennale and a major new
commission for the Arts Council Collection’s 70th Anniversary.
The closing date for applications has been set for 31st January 2017, and the
Award has been promoted widely through digital and print media. So far, this
year’s submissions have been across a wide range of media platforms and
Heather Phillipson True to Size 2009
HD video and sculptural installation
© The artist and the Arts Council Collection
should prove an interesting challenge for the panel of selectors, which includes
artist Helen Sear and the director of the Elysium Gallery, Jonathan Powell.
© Judy Barnes and Louise Burston 2017
Friends News
New Members
We’ve had many new members since the Gallery re-opened, and we are
delighted that people want to join us in supporting the Gallery. I’d like to
welcome Robert and Christine Jones, Pam McDonnell, Martin and Rosemary
Avey, Dhyana Fritsche, Mr and Mrs S.E. Gullick, Gwynne and Christine
Thomas, Margaret Ellis, Roy Ghose, Richard and Brenda Sweet, Richard
and Jean Bebb, Terence and Sandra Gare, Lyn Lockyer, Jane Onyett, Garry
& Fiona Astley, Patricia Nash, Caroline Rees and Ian Wilcox, David Sedley
and Rosella D’Alesio, Midge Frayne, Gillian Lawton, Alastair Duncan and
Julie Brunskill, John Bennett, Philip John Williams, Rob & Branwen LlewelynJones, Christopher and Amanda Bear, Mr & Mrs APT & KM Carter, Wayne &
Caroline Gwilym, Pauline Dicker, Terrill Chadwick, Heather Andrews, David
and Gwyneth Hughes, Joanna Bunkham, Roger and Anne Penton, Andrew and
Ann Hill, Alan and Carys Roberts, Tim Pegler and Catrin Jones, Paul McGrath
and Kay Renfrew, Patricia Smale, Catrin Jenna Wilkins, Liane Fairall, Sarah
Goodall, Sue Mann, Hilary Lola Bryanston, Ceri and John Dunstan, Harry
McKeown and Emma Jones, Anne Price-Owen, Colin and Margaret Cribb,
Carol Bell, Jennifer Williams, Daniel Came, Janet M Bligh, Keith and Debra
Evans, Rosemary Ind, Bill Bytheway and Julia Johnson, Louisa Helen Johnson,
Jill Lewis, Dr & Mrs D.G.C. & K.S. Jones, Mr David Lloyd Pope, Dr Sue Sanders,
Mr and Mrs J and R Parker, Ann Protheroe, Susan Davies, Johanna Davies, Mr
& Mrs Edwards, Bethan Blackmore, Mr & Mrs John & Helen White, Mr & Dr J
& M Howells, Mr & Mrs Ian & Louise Tew and Ms Victoria James.
Student Members
We offer our student membership free to encourage students to come along
to our talks and support the Gallery. We welcome new student members
Noleen McCann, Johnathan Woodwards, M. Tozer, Tiffany Harding, Tomos
Sparnon, Jennifer Graham, Kena Brown, Michael David Davies, Alison Bater,
Andrew Bater, Mr Walters, Simon Jones, Chloe Brown, Jeremy Gluck, Holly
Barker, Catherine Esaw, Lydia Courtier, Chloe Catrina Dacosta, Lisa-Marie
Donne, Elizabeth Anne Evans, P Davies, Lesley Campbell, Owen Rees and Anja
Stenina.
Ex Members
We would like to thank Mr and Mrs Dalzell for their support of the Friends
in the past. We have to report the sad death of Helen Zienkiewicz, a valued
Friend.
Membership Reminder
For those who have not renewed yet, please contact me should you wish to
do so.
Discounts
On production of membership card, Friends enjoy 10% discount on a range
of items in the Glynn Vivian Gallery Shop, and 15% in the Coast Café in the
Gallery.
Volunteering in the Gallery
Since the reopening of the Gallery, the Friends provided volunteers for the
Garden Room, which was greatly appreciated. We will also be called upon to
help with mail shots in the future, so do help if you can.
© Judy Barnes 2017
Membership Secretary
Friends of the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Glynn Vivian Art Gallery,
Alexandra Road, Swansea SA1 5DZ
Tel. (01792) 476187 [email protected]
9
Leonardo and the Horse (and a cat)
A clear validation of the importance of the newly redeveloped Glynn Vivian
Art Gallery was a visiting exhibition from the Queen’s Collection of ten sheets
of exquisite drawings by Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519). As Professor Martin
Kemp pointed out in his lecture to the Friends of the Gallery, these drawings
cover a wide, but by no means exhaustive range of the Florentine artist’s
interests, among them being the anatomy and movement of horses and his
studies of cats.
Cats, as all artists know, are extremely difficult to capture in repose or
movement; and, sadly, Leonardo’s watchful and perceptive studies of the
Madonna and Child with a Cat (c.1478) for which other drawings survive in the
British Museum, never resulted in the, presumably, intended altarpiece.This, had
it happened, would have been an extremely unusual contribution to the canon
of devotional art. Whatever, his finely observed studies of cats recently on loan
to the Glynn Vivian probably stole the show, as Professor Kemp suggested.They
appear as section nine of the catalogue that accompanied the exhibition, Cats,
lions and a dragon.
For the Sforza, a problem was that Milan and the surrounding territories were
part of the Holy Roman (the western) Empire and their occupation of the
city and the duchy were seen as usurpations. To get round this, the Sforza
employed a mixture of hard cash, realpolitik, frenzied but skillful diplomacy,
growing popular appeal, prestigious dynastic marriages and what now would
be called propaganda.
This then, was Leonardo’s task - to project the founder of the dynasty, Francesco,
as a commanding figure in military and political terms. The manifestation of this
project was to be a larger than life equestrian statue, in the expensive and
prestigious material, bronze. When completed, this was to be placed in one of
the Sforza palaces in central Milan.
The reasoning behind the commission is fairly obvious. The image of a man on
horseback as an expression of power has - and had - a long and prominent
history.
There were several reasons for Leonardo’s interest in horses (section two),
‘Studies for casting an equestrian monument’ (recto) and ‘Further casting
studies, and lines of poetry’ (verso). The first, as already suggested, lay in his
curiosity and understanding of the muscular structure and movement of living
forms. Also Leonardo was drawn to a subject that had always appealed to
medieval and renaissance artists.
(fig.2) Leonardo da Vinci A Horseman Trampling on a Fallen Foe
Silver-point on a blue prepared surface, Royal Library, Windsor. 12,358
(fig.1) Andrea Verrocchio Equestrian Statue of Bartolomeo Colleoni
bronze (1481-8)
His interest ‘in the horse’ was not a passing one and he repeatedly returned
to this topic displaying an insatiable curiosity and developing remarkable
powers of observation on the subject. Another reason may be related to a
relatively late commission Leonardo received from the republic of Florence to
commemorate and celebrate an important victory for the city over its Milanese
rivals, The Battle of Anghiari (1506). This was intended to adorn the Republic’s
principal Council Hall, but was never completed, and, as the catalogue for the
Glynn Vivian exhibition mentions, it is unclear how far this project advanced
and how much of it survives beyond preparatory studies.
Another earlier commission, this time for an equestrian monument, was
received from Lodovico Maria Sforza, duke of Milan (1452-1508) to celebrate
the founder of the Sforza dynasty as dukes. His father, Francesco (1401-66),
had been a remarkably successful condottiere, (mercenary soldier) who had
seized the duchy of Milan by military force and political manipulation in 1450.
For Western Europe in the Renaissance, Antiquity provided some visually
stunning and powerful examples - the bronze equestrian statue of the emperor
Marcus Aurelius (in the Middle Ages believed to be Constantine) in Rome, and
a statue called the Regisole in Pavia, not far from Milan and a Sforza residence.
These possibly inspired the frescoes of military commanders on horseback of
the English condottiere Sir John Hawkwood by Paolo Uccello and Niccolo da
Tolentino by Andrea da Castagno (1436, 1456, Florence Cathedral).There were
also very public and renowned statues in bronze of mercenary commanders,
Erasmo da Narni (Gattamelata) by Donatello in Padua (1442) and Bartolomeo
Colleoni by Verrocchio in Venice (1481-8) (fig.1).
How Leonardo, hitherto a Florence-based artist, came to the attention of
Lodovico is uncertain. The patronage of Lorenzo ‘the Magnificent’ de Medici of
Florence; Leonardo’s own search for a big-spending but discerning patron; his
confidence in his abilities and willingness to publically proclaim his genius could
all have been contributing factors. What also may have entered the frame was
the fact that Leonardo had been a member of Andrea Verrocchio’s workshop
in Florence and may have become aware of the tantalizing challenge in creating
a larger than life-size and technically complex monument in an expensive
material for a ‘public’ space. In Verrochio’s case, this was a monument to the
condottiere Bartolomeo Colleoni for the campo of Ss Giovanni e Paolo,Venice.
The Verrocchio connection must have exposed Leonardo to the famous bronze
Horses of San Marco in Venice, created in Antiquity, stolen by the Venetians
from Constantinople in the thirteenth century and placed in homage on the
façade of the shrine of their patron saint, St Mark.
10
However, Leonardo’s own fascination with the ‘horse project’ proved longlasting. The Battle of Anghiari fresco has been mentioned, and Leonardo was
recalled to French-ruled Milan to create an equestrian statue for Louis XII’s
commander, Gian Giacomo Trivulzio (post-1506). Sadly, once again this project
was unrealized. But thankfully his interest in the horse as a subject survives in
numerous pencil studies and sketches, and their beauty and technical brilliance
inspire exhibitions that draw our attention back to this ambitious and long
standing unfulfilled commission for the Sforza. In fact, such was the expertise
of the drawings, sketches and plans an attempted realization of the design for
the Sforza horse was made and placed outside the race track at San Siro, Milan,
a project launched in the United States in 1997 and realized by the sculptress
Nina Akamu in 1999 (fig.4).
(fig.3) Leonardo da Vinci Study of a Horse
Pen and ink over black chalk, Royal Library, Windsor. 12,344 verso
Sadly, however, the Sforza horse project was never realized. Leonardo received
other, pressing, court commissions. He and the Sforza may have been daunted
by the expense and technical problems involved. How to create a creature
of such size, weight and complexity would have tested even Leonardo’s selfproclaimed formidable talents. Creating such a monument would have required
the (multiple) skills of many craftsmen. It is likely that he would have found
it near impossible to such skilled craftsmen available and willing to commit
the time required for such a huge project. Fortunately though, we do have
Leonardo’s detailed drawings which show him wrestling with the technical
problems involved.
Such is the value placed today of Leonardo’s skillful empathetic study of horses
that a record £9 million was paid at Christie’s in 2001 for a silverpoint study
of a horse and rider. To date this remains the highest amount ever paid, for a
Leonardo drawing.
The final word must go to the cat ‘that stole the show’ at the Glynn Vivian, one of
Leonardo’s superb cat studies (fig.5).
Few of Leonardo’s preparatory studies or sketches were ever realized as
‘finished’ works of art, but the ‘horse and cat studies’ featured in the Glynn
Vivian opening exhibition demonstrate the artist’s powers of observation and
his constant, confident readiness to experiment with style and form.
Finally, there may also have been political issues. Some of Leonardo’s drawings
clearly represent horse and rider in an ‘aggressive’ mode, rearing over, about
to crush a fallen enemy (fig.2). Could this have been interpreted as giving the
Sforza dynasty a too tyrannical, oppressive or triumphalist image? However,
other Leonardo drawings can show the horse in a more tranquil, measured,
less aggressive pose (fig.3).
As Lodovico and his duchy became engulfed in war, the precious bronze went
into cannon. The clay or plaster maquette of the horse that Leonardo did
create was later used as target practice by French troops who overwhelmed
the Sforza duchy in 1499 - anticipating the French destruction of the Regisole in
Pavia during the wars of the French Revolution.
(fig.5) Leonardo da Vinci Cats, lions and a dragon (detail)
Pen and ink c1513-18. RCIN 912363 Ten Drawings, 9
Notes: The catalogue accompanying the exhibition – Martin Clayton, Leonardo
da Vinci. Ten Drawings from the Royal Collection – was first published by the Royal
Collection Trust in 2006, and reprinted in 2016. The Royal Academy staged an
important exhibition in 1977 on The Horses of San Marco (still accessible on the
internet).This featured other more recently discovered examples of equestrian
statues from Antiquity as well as the breed of horse that inspired them. The
National Gallery ran an exhibition in 2011-2, Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the
Court of Milan, Luke Syson et al., (National Gallery and Yale U.P.). Still of value
is A.E. Popham, The Drawings of Leonardo da Vinci (London, 1952). Chapter 3 is
devoted to ‘Horses and other animals’. The volume as a whole is dedicated to
the ‘Librarian and Staff of the National Library of Wales Aberystwyth’. Akamu’s
sculpture, is also known as ‘the American horse’ and copies are located
elsewhere in Italy and the United States – where the finance and expertise
came from.
(fig.4) Realization of the Sforza Horse in Milan by Nina Akamu
bronze 1999 (based on the design by Leonardo da Vinci)
© John Law 2016
11
Something from the ‘Old’
Glynn Vivian - Can you help?
As this Newsletter has focussed on the ‘new’ Glynn Vivian Art Gallery,
it is perhaps timely that we also refer back to the opening of the
original Gallery in 1911.
Two members of the Friends, John Law and Maria Stanley have kindly
gifted this card to the Glynn Vivian archive via the Friends. It charmingly
records the Opening Ceremony - and has also ‘doubled-up’ as a
Christmas card.
Has anyone seen this card
or another like it before?
Does anyone know the
date or the artist? If you
have any information,
please let us know!
© Malcolm Hill 2017
[email protected]
(01639) 794480
Chair’s letter
Welcome to the first issue of the Newsletter to appear since the reopening of
the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery. Already the building has hosted two joyful and
thronged public events, the reopening ceremonies on 14-15 October and the
opening of Glenys Cour’s big retrospective exhibition The Colour of Saying on
10 December. The architects, builders and Gallery staff, all agree, have created
a modernised and extended building that will serve the Glynn Vivian well for
many years to come.
A special welcome to those of you who’ve joined the Friends for the first time
in recent months. I’m sure you’ll enjoy being members and hope you’ll take an
active part in our activities. Please spread the word among your friends about
the Friends and get them to join too.
With the Gallery’s reopening we wound up the Friends’ special fundraising
campaign, launched in March 2016. I’d like to send our heartfelt thanks to
everyone, Friends, artists and many others, who contributed to the Glynn Vivian
2016 Fund. We succeeded in raising a final total of £74,440. Along the way
we had a lot of fun, especially with the art auction (see Charles Hampshire’s
polished video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylZAZuRMEPM ).Already
the Gallery is beginning to use the money to further its learning, conservation
and publicity programmes. Many Friends volunteered to help the Glynn Vivian
in welcoming visitors back to the building in its early weeks: we hope this will
lead to a wider programme of Friends’ volunteering.
The Friends also contributed to the Gallery’s celebration of the work of Glenys
Cour, by funding the production of the exhibition catalogue and by publishing
in a limited edition Nimbo the little cloud, a story written and newly illustrated
by Glenys. If you haven’t already bought your copy, I strongly recommend early
purchase!
In April we shall be launching another publication, Don Treharne’s long-awaited
and well-illustrated introduction to the work of the painter Vera Bassett:
another must-buy for lovers of art in the Swansea area.
This is the final Newsletter edited by the Treasurer of the Friends, Malcolm Hill.
Malcolm will also be standing down as Treasurer at the Annual General Meeting
in April after eleven years in the post. Under his care the Newsletter has grown
from a simple informational bulletin to become a substantial journal of record.
Thank you, Malcolm, for all your tireless and dedicated work on behalf of the
Friends.
My own term as Chair also comes to an end in April. I’d like to thank all of
you for your support over the last three, very enjoyable years, and my fellow
Committee members for their patience over the same period.
Diolch o galon ichi i gyd am eich cefnogaeth, a phob llwyddiant i’r Cyfeillion
wrth iddynt gychwyn ar gyfnod newydd o gynorthwyo’r Oriel.
© Andrew Green, Chair of the Friends, 2016
Many Thanks
I hope you enjoyed reading this Newsletter which focussed totally on the new
Glynn Vivian Art Gallery - I hope we did it justice. This is my last edition as
editor, as I will be standing down from this role and also as Friends Treasurer
at the AGM in April after eleven years. I would like to thank the Friends and
Gallery staff for their support over the years in both roles but especially for
all your contributions to the Newsletter. The responses were many, varied
and much appreciated indeed. I was particularly pleased that the Newsletter
sustained the interest in the Friends during the Gallery closure period.
Design by Andy Davies, gdF
I would also like to thank Andy Davies, of gdF for his huge contribution, not
only for the Newsletter design but also the website and other graphic design
projects over the last twelve years. Not least, I’d like to thank him for his
endless patience!I would like to wish the new editor the very best of luck and
hope that he/she can rely on the great support you all gave me.
Best wishes,
© Malcolm Hill January 2017
12