Art in Cardiff refers to the culture of visual arts in Cardiff, capital city of Wales. The visual arts in Cardiff have a much more recent history than many British cities, due to it being a very small town until rapid growth took place in the mid nineteenth century. Cardiff School of Art originated in 1865 and the first major public art exhibition took place in 1870. [1] The town became a city in 1905, after which time it gained further importance, for example with the creation of a new National Museum. Into the 21st century it has a thriving art scene.
Cardiff did not become a large town until rapid industrial expansion took place during the second half of the nineteenth century. Artists had visited the town from an earlier date, particularly Paul Sandby (1725/6-1809) painted a number of watercolours of South Wales during his second tour of Wales (1773, published 1775), [2] including of Cardiff's North and West Gates. Wales was unusual because its concentration of visual artists occurred in rural areas (rather than urban centres), drawn there by the impressive scenery. The Cambrian Academy of Art was founded by artists in the Conwy Valley and Betws-y-Coed and art was exhibited at established commercial galleries in Llandudno, on the North Wales coast. [3]
In 1858 the idea of a town museum for Cardiff had been raised and, in 1861, a museum was created in temporary rooms based on subscriptions, [1] sharing accommodation with the Cardiff Free Library [4] in St Mary Street. In 1870 Cardiff's first large-scale public art exhibition, the Fine Art and Industrial Exhibition, took place. [1] Bequests to the art collection, particularly sculpture (for example from Milo ap Griffith) began to come in. [1]
Central to the town's artistic community at the time were artist T. H. Thomas (1834–1915) and architect Edwin Seward (1853–1924). Thomas exhibited at the 1870 exhibition. Seward studied at Cardiff's College of Art and later designed the town's new Free Library on The Hayes. Both became Presidents of the Cardiff Naturalists' Society and when Thomas inherited a house on The Walk in 1880 this also became a place for intellectual discussion. [1] Seward tried unsuccessfully to establish an art institution in Cardiff to represent the whole of Wales. Exhibitions were held in 1884 and 1885 to raise money for a headquarters for the Cambrian Academy. Instead, Seward and a group of artists created the South Wales Art Society in 1888, with an annual exhibition and lecture programme. [1]
To help fund a new Free Library a second Fine Art and Industrial Exhibition took place in Cardiff's Drill Hall in 1881. T. H. Thomas and Cardiff painters B. S. Marks and Richard Short were on the organising committee. The event attracted further donations to the town's art collection, including the entire collection of William Menelaus after his death in 1882. [1] In 1883 the National Eisteddfod visited Cardiff and Thomas organised the art and craft exhibition and competition, the largest ever event of its kind in Wales at the time. Local painter Edgar Thomas came to the attention and the Marquess of Bute sponsored his continuing art education as a result. [1]
Discussions began in the early 1890s to create a far larger museum and art gallery for Cardiff. The idea that it became a national museum was soon mooted, to rival those in England and Scotland. A site was secured at Park Place for the new building, and the design commissioned from Edwin Seward. In 1896 Cardiff's third Fine Art and Industrial Exhibition took place (with the pavilion designed by Seward), which further brought together a substantial public collection of art, for example from the works of painter Charles Jones (d. 1892). [5] Plans for a new museum were superseded by grander ambitions for new civic buildings on a much larger site, and it was not realised until after Cardiff achieved city status (1905). Seward's designs were used for the application for government funds, but not used for the final building. [5]
A School of Science & Art was established in Cardiff in 1865, [6] with lessons taking place on the top floor of the Cardiff Free Library and Museum. [4] In 1867 a distinct School of Art was formed, based on the Art Night School. [7] The first South Kensington examinations took place (and prizes awarded) in 1868 (in 1869 the prizes were handed out by Lord Bute). [8] It became the Cardiff Technical School in 1889 (and eventually Cardiff College of Art in 1949). [6]
A purpose built city centre site was opened in May 1970 in Howard Gardens. This was closed in 2014 as the remaining courses were moved to Cardiff Metropolitan University's newly built art college building in Llandaff, bringing all the art and design courses together for the first time in decades. [9]
The South Wales Art Society (SWAS) was formed in 1888 by a group of Cardiff-based members of the art scene, including artists T. H. Thomas and Parker Hagarty, art collector James Pyke Thompson, architects J. A. Sant and Edwin Seward [10] and watercolourist Clarence Waite. [11] SWAS planned to have an annual exhibition, a lecture programme and a sketching club [10] and "offering to those who admire or appreciate, rather than practise, a means of cultivating a taste for Art". [11]
SWAS has continued to hold an annual exhibition in a variety of locations in Penarth and Cardiff. Its 100th exhibition took place at the Turner House Gallery, Penarth [11] and its 127th took place in the Pierhead Building, Cardiff Bay in 2014. [12]
The 56 Group was conceived in 1956 by a small group of Cardiff-based artists, Eric Malthouse and David Tinker (who both worked at the Art College) together with Michael Edmonds (an artist/architect). The name 56 Group was conceived at a meeting in a Llandaff pub and the loose organising committee was based in Cardiff. However the group had national ambitions to promote radical and abstract Welsh art [13] and its other founding members were associated with areas outside of Cardiff, such as Newport, Carmarthen, Aberystwyth and the Rhondda valleys. [14]
A small number of private art galleries continue to operate in Cardiff. Art in Wales: an illustrated history 1850–1980 describes the standard of exhibitions in Wales private galleries as "uneven", but singles out the Howard Roberts Gallery in Cardiff as one of the "two outstanding private galleries in Wales". [15]
The first private art gallery, called the Cardiff Gallery, opened in 1953 but only lasted a year or two. [16] In 1956 [17] the Howard Roberts Gallery was created by artist Howard Roberts in four large rooms on St Mary Street. [18] The gallery exhibited established Welsh painters and helped develop the careers of others. It became known as a centre for modernism, signing Ceri Richards and John Piper to its books. [18] The gallery was eventually forced to close in 1970, but left a legacy of art bequests to major Welsh galleries. [18]
Other notable private galleries include the Albany Gallery, Roath, which was opened in 1965 by Mary Yapp and became the agent for Kyffin Williams. [19] Martin Tinney had managed a gallery in Jacobbs Antiques Market in the city centre, since 1989, but in 1992 opened the Martin Tinney Gallery in Windsor Place, specialising entirely in Welsh art. [16] In 2002 the gallery moved to St Andrews Crescent. [16] It represents major Welsh artists such as Shani Rhys James. [19] [20]
G39 is a contemporary art gallery which opened on Mill Lane in the centre of Cardiff in 1998. It moved to larger premises in Roath in 2012. [21]
Oriel was an art gallery and bookshop in Charles Street, founded by the Welsh Arts Council in 1975 as its "Window on the Arts in Wales". It mounted influential exhibitions of contemporary art and had a publishing operation. In the late 1980s it moved to the corner of The Friary and Greyfriars Road. It closed in the 1990s when the Welsh Arts Council withdrew funding. [22]
Chapter is an arts centre in the Canton district of the city which includes two gallery spaces.
Artes Mundi is an international biennial contemporary art exhibition and prize, held at the National Museum since 2004.
The 'Roxe Jam' hip-hop and graffiti festival took place annually from July 2008 in Sevenoaks Park, Grangetown. The event was set up in memory of a young graffiti writer, Bill Lockwood aka Roxe, who was killed in a road accident. The main street art highlight of the event was the legal painting of a 140 m long wall which runs parallel to the Cardiff to Penarth railway line. [23] [24] The festival last took place in 2012.
In October 2013 the Made in Roath collaborated with the Empty Walls project with the intention of painting murals and street art on neglected buildings. [25] The event was brought into Cardiff city centre in 2014. Empty Walls festival sponsored by the Arts Council of Wales took the project to the city centre. The Project was organised by Sam Worthington (Wasp Elder/Colour Doomed) and Helen Bur ( HB) whom formed the arts collective Modern Alchemists, Empty Walls Street Art Festival and the Abacus arts space in Wood Street. It brought together 20 local and international street artists and over 40 murals were painted over the two festivals, together with an indoor exhibition at Abacus. [26]
Made in Roath is an annual arts festival held in the Roath district of Cardiff.
Cardiff Bay is an area and freshwater lake in Cardiff, Wales. The site of a former tidal bay and estuary, it is the river mouth of the River Taff and Ely. The body of water was converted into a 500-acre (2.0 km2) lake as part of a UK Government redevelopment project, involving the damming of the rivers by the Cardiff Bay Barrage in 1999. The barrage impounds the rivers from the Severn Estuary, providing flood defence and the creation of a permanent non-tidal high water lake with limited access to the sea, serving as a core feature of the redevelopment of the area in the 1990s.
Roath is a district and community to the north-east of the city centre of Cardiff, capital of Wales. The area is mostly covered by the Plasnewydd electoral ward, and stretches from Adamsdown in the south to Roath Park in the north.
Grangetown is a district and community in the south of Cardiff, capital of Wales. It is one of the largest districts in the south of the city and is bordered by Riverside, Canton and Butetown. The River Taff winds its way through the area. Adjacent to the city's Cardiff Bay area, Grangetown is experiencing a period of gentrification and improvements in its infrastructure. Its population as of 2011 was 19,385 in 8,261 households. One of the "five towns of Cardiff", the others are Butetown, Crockherbtown, Newtown and Temperance Town.
The music of Cardiff has been dominated mainly by rock music since the early 1990s with later trends developing towards more extreme styles of the genre such as heavy metal and metalcore music. It, along with the nearby music scene in Newport, has brought a number of musicians to perform or begin their careers in South Wales.
Edwin Seward (1853–1924) was an architect based in Cardiff, Wales.
Michael Gustavius Payne is a Welsh figurative painter. He paints primarily in oils and is influenced by mythological themes within a contemporary context. During his early exhibiting career he was known as Michael Payne, before he began using his full name. Since late 2012 he has dropped his first name and now uses the shorter Gustavius Payne.
Martyn Jones is a British contemporary painter who works from his studio in Cardiff, Wales.
Ffotogallery is the national development agency for photography in Wales. It was established in 1978 and since June 2019 has been based in Cathays, Cardiff. It also commissions touring exhibitions nationally and internationally. Its current director is David Drake. From 2003 to 2019 Ffotogallery used Turner House Gallery in Penarth as its gallery.
Shani Rhys James MBE is a Welsh painter based in Llangadfan, Powys. She has been described as "arguably one of the most exciting and successful painters of her generation" and "one of Wales’ most significant living artists". She was elected to the Royal Cambrian Academy of Art in 1994. In the 2006 New Years Honours she was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for "services to art".
Made in Roath is an annual arts festival that takes place every October in Roath, a neighbourhood just adjacent to the city centre of Cardiff, Wales. The event showcases art, music, performance, literature and food in a variety of venues including peoples' homes. It is organised by the tight-knit community in Roath.
Rosemary "Ray" Howard-Jones was a prolific Welsh painter best known for her impressionistic seascapes and paintings of the coastline of Wales, particularly of the areas around Skomer and Marloes.
Mary Lloyd Jones FLSW is a Welsh painter and printmaker based in Aberystwyth. Her works are multilayered and use devices that reflect an interest in the beginnings of language, including early man-made marks and the ogham and bardic alphabets. She has exhibited across Wales and internationally.
Turner House Gallery is an art gallery in Penarth, near Cardiff, Wales.
Frank Roper was a British sculptor and stained-glass artist who undertook commissions for churches and cathedrals across Wales and England.
The Old Library is a Grade II* listed building in Cardiff, Wales. It is located in the centre of the city at the northern end of The Hayes. Originally the Cardiff Free Library, it was used as the city's Central Library until it was replaced in 1988. It has been used for other purposes since that time and is currently the home of the Cardiff Story museum and Menter Caerdydd, a community-based Menter Iaith organisation which works to raise the profile of the Welsh language in Cardiff.
Evan Charlton (1904–1984) was a British artist who painted surrealist landscapes and interiors.
Nerys Ann Johnson was a Welsh artist and art curator.
Claudia Jane Herington Williams is a British artist known for her paintings, often large colourful portraits. Although born in England, Williams has spent the majority of her career painting in Wales.
Mike Tooby is an independent curator and researcher based in Cardiff, Wales. His interests lie in integrating the practices often separated in curating in the arts and heritage settings: research, display, promotion, participation and learning. His own practice centres on curating in collaborative or site-specific contexts, where negotiating and celebrating relationships with audiences are at the core of projects.