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 in painting of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, rivers, trees, and forests, especially where the main subject is a wide view—with its elements arranged into a cohe ...

Early life

Born in the village of

Llanystumdwy Llanystumdwy () is a predominantly Welsh-speaking village, community and electoral ward in the Eifionydd area of Gwynedd in Wales. The village lies on the southern coast of the Llŷn Peninsula, with a beach facing Cardigan Bay, between Cricci ...

, near

Criccieth Criccieth, also spelled Cricieth (), is a town and community (Wales), community in Gwynedd, Wales, on the boundary between the Llŷn Peninsula and Eifionydd. The town is west of Porthmadog, east of Pwllheli and south of Caernarfon. It had a ...

Gwynedd Gwynedd () is a county in the north-west of Wales. It borders Anglesey across the Menai Strait to the north, Conwy, Denbighshire, and Powys to the east, Ceredigion over the Dyfi estuary to the south, and the Irish Sea to the west. The ci ...

, 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 ( ; ) is an island off the north-west coast of Wales. It forms the bulk of the Principal areas of Wales, county known as the Isle of Anglesey, which also includes Holy Island, Anglesey, Holy Island () and some islets and Skerry, sker ...

. 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, 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. image:Plas Mawr.jpg, 240px, Plas Mawr, Conwy Early history During the 19th century there w ...

. 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 (, ; , ; and ) is a small Greece, Greek Islands of Greece, island in the northwest Aegean Sea. Skiathos is the westernmost island in the Northern Sporades archipelago, east of the Pelion peninsula in Magnesia (regional unit), Magnesia ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

and Rochefort-en-Terre,

Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

, before settling in

Pembrokeshire Pembrokeshire ( ; ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. It is bordered by Carmarthenshire to the east, Ceredigion to the northeast, and otherwise by the sea. Haverfordwest is the largest town and ...

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 () 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 – the university was the first universit ...

. 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 (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

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 generally a long-form work on one (usually scholarly) subject, or one aspect of a subject, typically created by a single author or artist (or, sometimes, by two or more authors). Traditionally it is in written form and published a ...

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 () is a seaside town and community (Wales), community in the county of Pembrokeshire, Wales. It lies within Carmarthen Bay. Notable features include of sandy beaches and the Pembrokeshire Coast Path, the 13th-century Tenby Town Walls, me ...

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