Glenys Irene Cour ( Carthew, born 1924) is a Welsh artist.

Biography

Cour was born in

Fishguard Fishguard ( cy, Abergwaun, meaning "Mouth of the River Gwaun") is a coastal town in Pembrokeshire, Wales, with a population of 3,419 in 2011; the community of Fishguard and Goodwick had a population of 5,407. Modern Fishguard consists of two pa ...

, Pembrokeshire, Wales in 1924. From 1945 until 1948, she studied at

Cardiff College of Art Cardiff School of Art & Design (CSAD) is one of the five schools that comprise Cardiff Metropolitan University. It originated as the Cardiff School of Art in 1865. History Cardiff School of Art & Design opened in 1865 as the Cardiff School of S ...

under

Ceri Richards Ceri Giraldus Richards (6 June 1903 – 9 November 1971) was a Welsh painter, print-maker and maker of reliefs. Biography Richards was born in 1903 in the village of Dunvant, near Swansea, the son of Thomas Coslett Richards and Sarah Ri ...

and married the sculptor Ronald Cour in 1949. From 1963 to 2000, she taught painting and

architectural glass Architectural glass is glass that is used as a building material. It is most typically used as transparent glazing material in the building envelope, including windows in the external walls. Glass is also used for internal partitions and as an ar ...

at Swansea Institute of Higher Education, and the

University of Wales, Swansea , former_names=University College of Swansea, University of Wales Swansea , motto= cy, Gweddw crefft heb ei dawn , mottoeng="Technical skill is bereft without culture" , established=1920 – University College of Swansea 1996 – University of Wa ...

. Cour has been a member of The Welsh Group for a number of years, taking part in many of the group's exhibitions, including its 50th anniversary in 1998. She was elected Royal Cambrian Academician in 2009 and is also one of the founding artists of

Swansea Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea ( cy, links=no, Dinas a Sir Abertawe). The city is the twenty-fifth largest in ...

's Mission Gallery.

Artwork

Cour's artwork is primarily concerned with colour and light, using landscape, flowers, various culturally charged objects, like ancient Greek artefacts or

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

stones, and mythology, especially the mythology of Wales and the multiplely layered tales of the

Mabinogion The ''Mabinogion'' () are the earliest Welsh prose stories, and belong to the Matter of Britain. The stories were compiled in Middle Welsh in the 12th–13th centuries from earlier oral traditions. There are two main source manuscripts, create ...

.Glenys Cour: Metaphors
Hugh David Jones blog, 1 August 2008. Published in ''Buzz Magazine'' (

South Wales South Wales ( cy, De Cymru) is a loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, south Wales extends westwards ...

). Cour's artwork includes painting on canvas and paper, stained glass, collage, paper making, posters, projections and artist books. Her use of materials has changed through the years, from the landscape painting of the 1970s, leading into a greater use of

collage Collage (, from the french: coller, "to glue" or "to stick together";) is a technique of art creation, primarily used in the visual arts, but in music too, by which art results from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole. ...

and

abstraction Abstraction in its main sense is a conceptual process wherein general rules and concepts are derived from the usage and classification of specific examples, literal ("real" or "concrete") signifiers, first principles, or other methods. "An abstr ...

from the 1980s, working predominantly in glass for periods and in 2007 illustrating a book with Old Stile Press.

Exhibitions

Glenys Cour's artwork has been exhibited widely in Europe and the US, with major exhibitions in her home country of Wales at St. David's Hall in 1991,

Glynn Vivian Art Gallery The Glynn Vivian Art Gallery is the public art gallery of the City and County of Swansea, in Wales, United Kingdom. The gallery is situated in Alexandra Road, near Swansea railway station, opposite the old Swansea Central Library. History The ...

in 2003, the Attic Gallery, Swansea in 2005 and a major retrospective exhibition, curated by Mel Gooding, at the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery in 2014. Film maker Toril Brancher was commissioned by the gallery to make a film about Glenys Cour and her artwork as part of the exhibition. Her artwork is held in several public and private collections, including the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, The

National Museum of Wales National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

, The Kunsthalle Mannheim Museum,

Swansea University , former_names=University College of Swansea, University of Wales Swansea , motto= cy, Gweddw crefft heb ei dawn , mottoeng="Technical skill is bereft without culture" , established=1920 – University College of Swansea 1996 – University of Wa ...

, the

University of South Wales The University of South Wales ( cy, Prifysgol De Cymru) is a public university in Wales, with campuses in Cardiff, Newport and Pontypridd. It was formed on 11 April 2013 from the merger of the University of Glamorgan and the University of Wal ...

and

Y Gaer Y Gaer () is a Roman fort situated near modern-day Brecon in Mid Wales, United Kingdom. Y Gaer is located at (Landranger 160). History Y Gaer was built around AD 75 and sits on a crossroads of Roman roads in the valley of the River Usk at a ...

Awards

* 1989 Best poster for British Arts Festival Association. * 1992 Painter in glass commission –

. * 2004 Honorary Fellow of the Swansea Institute of Higher Education. * 2006 MA (Honorary)

. Cour was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(MBE) in the

2020 Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours for 2020 are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded ...

for services to the visual arts in Wales.

Publications

Glenys Cour: Paintings and Works on Paper 1980–2003, Mel Gooding and Peter Wakelin, 2003, Glynn Vivian Art Gallery,

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cour, Glenys 1924 births Living people 20th-century Welsh painters 20th-century Welsh women artists 21st-century Welsh painters 21st-century Welsh women artists Alumni of Cardiff School of Art and Design Artists from Swansea Members of the Order of the British Empire Members of The Welsh Group People from Fishguard Welsh women painters