KYFFIN WILLIAMS

Kyffin Williams Biography

Sir Kyffin Williams, RA (1918-2006)

Born on Anglesey in 1918, Kyffin Williams, the younger son of a bank manager descended from a long line of Welsh Clergymen. He left Shrewsbury School in 1935 having won an art prize and was eventually to become one of Wales's most loved artists, celebrated particularly for his compelling portraits and his landscapes and seascapes of North Wales.

In October, 1941 Williams entered the Slade school of Art, after he was obliged to leave his position in the Royal Welch Fusiliers due to poor health. Here he managed to secure the Slade Portrait Prize and the Robert Ross Leaving Scholarship.

From 1944-1973 Williams taught art at Highgate School in London, spending the school holidays in Wales to paint and draw.

His First one-man exhibition was held at Colnaghi in London in 1948. Later he showed a variety of prestigious locations in England and Wales including the Leicester Galleries, the Royal Academy, the Glynn Vivian Museum & Art Gallery, Swansea and Howard Roberts Gallery in Cardiff, and the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth.

Shepherds is an excellent example of Williams's bold and distinctive technique as well as his passion for depicting wandering figures within the mountainous landscape of North Wales. His use of the palette knife to create fluid lines and his enjoyment of the sensuality of the paint is made all the more apparent by the copious application of the paint itself.

Kyffin Williams received many honours, both for his exceptional work and his generosity to other artists. Honours were conferred on him by the University of Wales, the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorian and the Contemporary Art Society of Wales. He was also a senior Royal Academician and was President of the Royal Cambrian Academy for many years. In 1982 he received an O.B.E. for his services to the Arts, and he was awarded a knighthood by Her Majesty the Queen in the New Year Honors list in 2000.


Public Collections

Arts Council of Great Britain

Chantrey Bequest

Contemporary Art Society

Contemporary Art Society for Wales

Glynn Vivian Museum & Art Gallery, Swansea

National Library of Wales

National Museum of Wales

National Portrait Gallery

Oriel Ynys Mon

Tate Gallery, London

University of Wales

Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool

Welsh Arts Council
Publications

1973 'Across the Straits', Kyffin Williams
1991 'A Wider Sky' Kyffin Williams
1996 'Portraits', 'Boyo Ballads'
1998 'The Land and the Sea' 2001 'Drawings', 'Cutting Images'