Ceri Richards

Ceri Richards
Ceri Richards
	Ceri Richards in 1960
Born	6 June 1903; Dunvant,Wales
Died	9 November 1971(aged 68); London, England
Nationality	Welsh
Education	Swansea School of Art; Royal College of Art;
Known for	Painting; printmaking; reliefs;
Movement	Modernism
Spouse	Frances Clayton(married 1929)
Awards	CBE(1960); National EisteddfodGold Medal (1961); Einaudi Painting Prizeof theVenice Biennale(1962).;

Ceri Giraldus RichardsCBE(6 June 1903 – 9 November 1971) was a Welsh painter, print-maker and maker ofreliefs.^[2]

Biography

Richards was born in 1903 in the village ofDunvant,nearSwansea,the son of Thomas Coslett Richards and Sarah Richards (born Jones). He and his younger brother and sister, Owen and Esther, were brought up in a highly cultured, working-class environment. His mother came from a family of craftsmen; his father, an employee of a tinplate foundry inGowerton,was active in the local chapel and wrote poetry in Welsh and English. For many years he conducted the Dunvant Excelsior Male Voice Choir, which would become theDunvant Male Choir.All three children were taught to play the piano, and became familiar with the works of Bach and Handel in the cycle of Christian celebration. In later years music would be an important stimulus to Richards's painting – as would his youthful sensitivity to the landscapes of theGower Peninsulaand the cycles of nature.

AtGowerton Intermediate Schoolhe drew constantly and won local competitions. When he left school to become apprenticed to a firm of electricians in Swansea, he devoted his evenings to studying engineering draughtsmanship atSwansea College of Technologyand drawing at theSwansea School of Art(both are now part ofUniversity of Wales Trinity Saint David).

In 1921, at the age of 18, Richards enrolled full-time at the Swansea School of Art, then under the direction ofWilliam Grant Murray.During his time at the art school he spent less time in painting than in drawing from classical casts and studying industrial design and graphics. The strongest impact on him during these years appears to have been the week's summer school in 1923, which he spent under the direction ofHugh BlakeratGregynog Hall,the country house ofGwendolineandMargaret Davies,where he first saw the canvases ofRenoir,Van Gogh,Monet,Cézanne,CorotandDaumier,the sculpture ofRodinand sheets of old-master and modern drawings. The experience confirmed him in his vocation; and in the same year he applied for, and won, a scholarship to study in London at theRoyal College of Art.

Richards entered theRoyal College of Artin 1924.

Afterwards Richards spent most of his life in London, apart from a period teaching art inCardiff,where he was head of painting atCardiff School of ArtduringWorld War II.^[2]

In 1929 he marriedFrances Clayton,a fellow artist.^[3]They had two daughters – Rachel (born 1932) and Rhiannon (born 1945). Rachel married the paleontologistColin Patterson.^[4]

His work gradually moved towardssurrealismafter exposure to the work ofPicassoandKandinsky.He was also a talented musician, and music is a theme for much of his artwork. From 1959 onwards, he made prints for theCurwen Press.One of the high points of his career was theVenice Biennaleof 1962, where he was a prizewinner.

Richards died in London on 9 November 1971. He was buried, with his parents, in the churchyard of Ebenezer Chapel inDunvant,not far from where he was born.^{[citation needed]}

Many of his works are in theTate Britaincollection.^[5]TheGlynn Vivian Art Galleryin Swansea (where Richards' first solo exhibition took place in 1930) also holds a collection. Good examples of his work are also to be found in the gallery of theNational Museum Cardiffand thePallant House Gallery,Chichester.

He designedstained glass windowsforDerby Cathedral(1964–65), and for the Blessed Sacrament Chapel ofLiverpool Metropolitan Cathedral(1965).^[1]

Select works

Still Life with Music(1933)
The Sculptor and his Object(1934)
The Sculptor in his Studio(1937)
The Female Contains All Qualities(1937)
Blossoms(1940)
The Coster Woman(1943)
The force that through the green fuse drives the flower(three lithographs) (1947)
The Pianist(1948)
Interior with piano, woman and child painting(1949)
Trafalgar Square(1951)
Black Apple of Gower(1952)
Beethoven and St Cecilia(1953)
Do not go gentle into that good night(1956) [2 versions]
Deposition(1958)
La Cathédrale engloutie(1957–1962) [series]
Poissons d'or(1963)
Claire de lune(1967)
White Blossom(1968)
Elegy forVernon Watkins(1971)
Murals for the British Council offices, 46 Caroline Street, Cardiff^[6]

References

^^a ^b"Ceri Richards".BBC.Retrieved24 October2013.
^^a ^bIan Chilvers, John Glaves-Smith, ed. (2009),A Dictionary of Modern and Contemporary Art,Oxford University Press,p. 1434,ISBN 978-0-199239665
^"Frances Richards biography".Tate.
^Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.Oxford University Press. 2004.
^"Ceri Richards biography".Tate.Retrieved22 October2013.
^Eric Rowan (1985).Art in Wales: An Illustrated History 1850-1980.Welsh Arts Council, University of Wales Press.ISBN 0708308546.

External links

92 artworks by or after Ceri Richardsat theArt UKsite
"Ceri Richards biography".Tate.Retrieved22 October2013.

[Ceri_Richards-1] "Ceri Richards".BBC.Retrieved24 October2013.

[Chilvers-2] Ian Chilvers, John Glaves-Smith, ed. (2009),A Dictionary of Modern and Contemporary Art,Oxford University Press,p. 1434,ISBN 978-0-199239665

[3] "Frances Richards biography".Tate.

[4] Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.Oxford University Press. 2004.

[Tate-5] "Ceri Richards biography".Tate.Retrieved22 October2013.

[6] Eric Rowan (1985).Art in Wales: An Illustrated History 1850-1980.Welsh Arts Council, University of Wales Press.ISBN 0708308546.

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Authority control databases
International	FAST ISNI VIAF WorldCat
National	Spain France BnF data Germany Israel United States Netherlands Vatican
Artists	Auckland South Australia Museum of Modern Art National Gallery of Canada Victoria RKD Artists ULAN
People	Trove
Other	SNAC IdRef Te Papa (New Zealand)

Biography

Select works

References

Further reading

External links