Gwilym Arifor Prichard (''né'' Pritchard; 4 March 1931 – 7 June 2015) was a Welsh

landscape painter Landscape painting, also known as landscape art, is the depiction of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, trees, rivers, and forests, especially where the main subject is a wide view—with its elements arranged into a coherent composi ...

Early life

Born in the village of

Llanystumdwy Llanystumdwy is a predominantly Welsh-speaking village, community and electoral ward on the Llŷn Peninsula in Wales. It lies in the traditional county of Caernarfonshire but is currently administered as part of the unitary authority of Gwyned ...

, near

Criccieth Criccieth ( cy, Criccieth ) is a town and community on the Llŷn Peninsula in the Eifionydd area of Gwynedd in Wales. The town lies west of Porthmadog, east of Pwllheli and south of Caernarfon. It had a population of 1,826 in 2001, reducing ...

Gwynedd Gwynedd (; ) is a county and preserved county (latter with differing boundaries; includes the Isle of Anglesey) in the north-west of Wales. It shares borders with Powys, Conwy County Borough, Denbighshire, Anglesey over the Menai Strait, and C ...

, he studied at Bangor Normal College (1951-3) before moving on to

Birmingham College of Art The Birmingham School of Art was a municipal art school based in the centre of Birmingham, England. Although the organisation was absorbed by Birmingham Polytechnic in 1971 and is now part of Birmingham City University's Faculty of Arts, Design a ...

, before becoming a teacher in

Anglesey Anglesey (; cy, (Ynys) Môn ) is an island off the north-west coast of Wales. It forms a principal area known as the Isle of Anglesey, that includes Holy Island across the narrow Cymyran Strait and some islets and skerries. Anglesey island ...

. He married fellow artist Claudia Williams in 1953, and altered the spelling of his surname when he discovered that there was another painter of the same name. "Book review: Gwilym Prichard, Claudia Williams: A perfect picture of when love and art collide", ''The Independent'', 22 September 2013
Retrieved 7 June 2015 Their son,

Ceri Pritchard Ceri () is a hamlet (''frazione'') of the ''comune'' of Cerveteri, in the Metropolitan City of Rome, Lazio (central Italy). It occupies a fortified plateau of tuff at a short distance from the city of Cerveteri. History Inhabited before the 7 ...

, is a painter.

Style

Noted for his "dramatic and colourful" depictions of "dense, craggy, often formidable landscapes" with "a three-dimensional quality", Prichard's paintings "managed to display his joy in the richness and beauty of his native land". He started to become successful during the 1960s, and in 1970 he was elected to the

Royal Cambrian Academy The Royal Cambrian Academy of Art (RCA) is a centre of excellence for art in Wales. Its main gallery is located in Conwy and it has over a hundred members. 240px, Plas Mawr, Conwy Early history During the 19th century there were numerous attempts ...

. Gwilym Prichard, Martin Tinney Gallery
Retrieved 7 June 2015

Professional life

After leaving paid employment in the early 1970s, he became a full-time painter. In the early 1980s the couple began travelling through Europe, living for periods in

Skiathos Skiathos ( el, Σκιάθος, , ; grc, Σκίαθος, ; and ) is a small Greek island in the northwest Aegean Sea. Skiathos is the westernmost island in the Northern Sporades group, east of the Pelion peninsula in Magnesia on the mainland, ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

and

Rochefort-en-Terre Rochefort-en-Terre (; ) is a commune in the Morbihan department of Brittany in north-western France. Rochefort-en-Terre is a designated “Petite Cité de Caractère”. The medieval chateau located in the town was the home of American painter ...

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, Historical region, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known ...

, before settling in

Pembrokeshire Pembrokeshire ( ; cy, Sir Benfro ) is a Local government in Wales#Principal areas, county in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. It is bordered by Carmarthenshire to the east, Ceredigion to the northeast, and the rest by sea. The count ...

in 1999. Prichard was awarded the silver medal by the Société Académique des Arts-Sciences-Lettres de Paris in 1995, and was an Honorary Fellow of the

University of Wales The University of Wales (Welsh language, Welsh: ''Prifysgol Cymru'') is a confederal university based in Cardiff, Wales. Founded by royal charter in 1893 as a federal university with three constituent colleges – Aberystwyth, Bangor and Cardiff � ...

. In later years he was regarded as the senior living Welsh landscape painter. "Renowned landscape artist Gwilym Prichard dies", BBC News, 7 June 2015
Retrieved 7 June 2015 A major exhibition of his work was held in

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

in 2013, "Artist Gwilym Prichard's exhibition opens in Cardiff", BBC News, 12 April 2013
Retrieved 7 June 2015 and a

monograph A monograph is a specialist work of writing (in contrast to reference works) or exhibition on a single subject or an aspect of a subject, often by a single author or artist, and usually on a scholarly subject. In library cataloging, ''monograph ...

detailing his work, ''A Lifetime's Gazing'', was published the same year. Amy McCauley, Review of ''Gwilym Prichard: A Lifetime’s Gazing'' by Harry Heuser and Robert Meyrick, ''New Welsh Review'', issue 100, 2013
Retrieved 7 June 2015 Karen Price, "Capturing Wales: One of our best-loved artists is celebrated with a new book and major exhibition", ''WalesOnline'', 22 April 2013
Retrieved 7 June 2015

Death

Prichard died at his home in

Tenby Tenby ( cy, Dinbych-y-pysgod, lit=fortlet of the fish) is both a walled seaside town in Pembrokeshire, Wales, on the western side of Carmarthen Bay, and a local government community. Notable features include of sandy beaches and the Pembroke ...

June 7, 2015.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prichard, Gwilym 1931 births 2015 deaths 20th-century Welsh painters 20th-century Welsh male artists 21st-century Welsh painters 21st-century Welsh male artists People associated with the University of Wales People from Llanystumdwy Welsh landscape painters Welsh male painters People from Tenby