It is a pleasure and a privilege to show this collection of Claudia and Gwilym's work which has come direct from the family. During a long and happy partnership lasting over 60 years, they became an important part of Wales' artistic life.
Their work explored, for the most part, different spheres: Gwilym sought to catch the rugged landscapes around him. Power and dignity; weather and light. The permanence of things. Claudia painted the relationships between family and friends, moments of affection and togetherness. The things that give our lives grace and dignity.
Their dedication to their art is rare and admirable. Their contribution to Art in Wales, spanning decades, immeasurable.
We hope you enjoy the show!
Claudia Williams 1933-2024
Claudia was born in Purley, but her family had Welsh roots. She spent much of her life living and working in Wales.
She began her training at the Chelsea School of Art in 1950, and won the Young Person's Prize for art at the National Eisteddfod in Caerffili that year.
In 1953, she married Gwilym Prichard in. She worked for the Workers Educational Association, providing further education to adults in the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada.
During the 1980s she travelled extensively in Europe with Gwilym and the children, creating notable works in Skiathos, Provence and in Brittany where they lived for 15 years. She exhibited her work widely in France, including at the Salon de Beaux Arts in Paris and at the Salon de Nantes Biennale. She won first prize in the Salon de Vannes in 1989. She joined the RCA in 1979 and received the silver medal from the Société Académique des Artes-Sciences-Lettres in Paris in 1995.
Her work often focusing on family relationships domestic scenes. The quotidian pleasures and routines of life and its rituals. Cooking and playing music together, holidays on the beach. Ordinary, fleeting moments that become precious memories. Work full of feeling and love.
They returned to Wales in 1999, settling in Tenby. Claudia was made an Honorary Fellow of Bangor University in 2002. Her work is held in many public collections, including the Universities of Bangor and Aberystwyth, and the civic galleries in Southampton and Newport, and the National Museum of Wales.
Gwilym Prichard 1931-2015
Gwilym was born in Llanystumdwy. He studied at Coleg Normal, Bangor and at the Birmingham College of Art. He married Claudia Williams in 1953.
They settled in Anglesey where he worked as a teacher in Llangefni, and later in Bangor.
He began to attract attention as an artist in the 1960s for his dramatic and boldly coloured paintings which distilled Wales' craggy, formidable landscapes. His new approach was bold and refreshing. During this time he exhibited regularly in London. Along the way he changed the spelling of his surname, dropping the 't', as there was another painter with the same name.
He joined the RCA in 1970, and began to paint full-time. In the 1980s he travelled widely in Europe, producing notable works in Greece and France. He settled with Claudia in Rochefort-en-Terre in Southern Brittany for many years, where they founded a school for the creative arts. He received the silver medal from the Société Académique des Artes-Sciences-Lettres in Paris in 1995. And was made an Honorary Fellow of the University of Wales in 1996.
He returned to Wales with Claudia in 1999, and settled in Tenby. In his later years he was regarded as Wales' most senior and noteworthy landscape painter. He had a major exhibition in Cardiff, and a monograph, in 2013.
He exhibited widely in Wales and abroad. His work is held in several Public Collections, including the Aberystwyth University, the Welsh Arts Council and CASW.