Callaghans is honoured and excited to introduce ‘Ridge Above Cwm Idwal’, a stunning work in dark ink by the widely renowned late Sir Kyffin Williams, OBE. Now on display in the gallery, this landscape is depicted in moody, intense dark greyscale, with stark highlights adding a contrast to the shadows of the piece, and the stormy, ominous grey of the sky.

Born John Kyffin Williams in Anglesey in 1918, he was raised and schooled in England and Wales. Williams only seriously pursued his interest in art after being discharged from the British Army on medical grounds in 1941, when he decided to enrol at London’s Slade School of Fine Art. He was senior art master at Highgate School, London, from 1944 until 1973. In 1968 he won a Winston Churchill Fellowship to study and paint in Y Wladfa, the Welsh settlement in Patagonia, South America, which enabled him to greatly develop his palette and portfolio. On retiring from Highgate school Williams returned to Anglesey and spent the next 30 years painting the stunning landscapes of Wales. 

Over the course of his lifetime, Williams was awarded many prestigious accolades He was president of the Royal Cambrian Academy and was appointed a member of the Royal Academy in 1974. In 1995 Williams received the Glyndŵr Award for an Outstanding Contribution to the Arts in Wales during the Machynlleth Festival. He was awarded the OBE for his services to the arts in 1982 and was knighted in 1999.
His works are currently exhibited in a permanent exhibition in the Oriel Kyffin Williams Gallery which opened in 2008 at Oriel Ynys Môn in Llangefni, Anglesey, as well as at many other galleries elsewhere in Britain.

Sir Kyffin Williams is now internationally recognised as the ‘Man Who Painted Wales’: the defining artist of Wales during the 20th century. Despite his name being synonymous with landscape painters, Williams was also an accomplished portraitist. His style is typically characterised by thick impasto applied with a palette knife, but he also produced inks and sketches throughout his prolific career. He died in 2006, leaving behind a legacy as one of the most prominent artists in Welsh history. 

‘Ridge Above Cwm Idwal’ is the latest addition to our series of Kyffin Williams’ paintings. If you’d like the chance to own a genuine Kyffin Williams, or if you simply would like to view this masterpiece for yourself, our gallery in Shrewsbury is open for a coffee and a chat from Monday to Saturday.