SIR KYFFIN WILLIAMS O.B.E. R.A. (WELSH 1918-2006) §
ARDNAMURCHAN
£4,032
Auction: 19 March 2025 from 10:00 GMT
Description
signed with initials lower right, watercolour on paper
Dimensions
37.5cm x 55.5cm (14 ¾in x 21 ¾in)
Provenance
Thackeray Gallery, London
Footnote
In his 1973 autobiography, Across the Straits, Sir Kyffin Williams described the inspiration that he found growing up in the natural environment of his native Wales, especially that of the Llŷn peninsula, by explaining that there,
'surrounded by some of the most glorious landscape in Britain, I began to assemble unknowingly a vast library of feelings, sensations and knowledge that were to form the foundations of my future life as a landscape painter.’
This deep-seated admiration for his surroundings can be seen in Light above Crib Goch, in which the titular red ridge in the Snowdonia National Park towers above a barren foreground. A sense of scale, power and longevity is evoked by way of the generous application of paint using a palette knife characteristic of his practice, combined with his distinctive palette of greys, black and olive green.
Williams explained in his 1998 book The Land and the Sea,
‘Crib Goch is one of my favourite mountains. I like the way it seems to crouch, I like the variety of its shapes while further up the valley at Pen-y-pass I love the way it seems to rear into the sky like a Himalayan peak…Crib Goch is a fierce and crinkled ridge make up of a fine-grained volcanic lava which weathers to a rusty-brown colour that gives it its name of red ridge or crest. I especially love the jagged ridges and the thrusting peaks when there is a strong light behind them, for it is then that they emanate a power that is stimulating to me as a painter.’
By the time of his death in 2006, Williams held an unassailable position as the pre-eminent Welsh artist, having been elected to the Royal Academy of Arts in London in 1974 and receiving a knighthood in 1999. His work is held in many public collections, including paintings featuring Crib Goch held by the National Library of Wales, Gwynedd County Council, the Government Art Collection and Bangor University.