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. GLYN MORGAN
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"Berw Pool Pontypridd", 1950
oil on canvas
71x91cm
"Sunflower & Sun II", 1976
oil on canvas
31x34cm
"Celtic Landscape", 1987
oil on canvas
86x110cm(1&2=in private collections, 3=National Museum of Wales)
Morgan was born in 1926 in Pontypridd, South Wales. In 1946/8 he studied at the Camberwell School of Art and at Cardiff School of Art. He belonged to the so-called Rhondda Group. He has lived most of his life in Suffolk /England where he has his studio. His mentor was Cedric Morris at the East Anglia School of Painting & Drawing, Benton End/Suffolk. While studying in Cardiff he was also taught by Ceri Richards; influences: neo-romantics Graham Sutherland & Paul Nash. A while after his training at art school and a period in Paris, Glyn Morgan followed his mentor & teacher, Cedric Morris, to Suffolk where he settled for good.
For most of his painting career he was guided by his role-model mentor. As Richard Morphet, keeper of the Modern Art Collection at the Tate Gallery expressed it on the occasion of an exhibition at Y Tabernacl in Machynlleth: "Morgan is one of the most faithful students of the school, at once of painting and of life, which Cedric Morris & Lett Haines established at Benton End, Hadleigh, Suffolk, shortly before he first visited it in his teens...A key element in the dynamic of Benton End was the contrast between the personalities of its founders and between the art each of them made. Of the two, Morgan is especially devoted to the example and achievement of Cedric Morris, whom he first met in their native Wales, and Morris's legacy can be seen clearly in his pupil's concern with vibrant colour and with plants, animals and birds. (It is further reflected in his recent decision to move, like Morris, to Hadleigh). Distinct from Morris's sensibility, however, is the sense of mystery and of metamorphosis that runs through Morgan's mature work...
That Morgan was taught also by Ceri Richards seems more than accidental. The two share preoccupation with water, with music and with dynamic thrust of organic life. Rich though it may be in English references, Morgan's art is true, too, to a Welsh tradition of dream and imagination. Most of Morgan's pictures enhance our sense not only of time but also of space. Here an important role is played by light. Morgan emphasises the great distance from us of its source, yet often shows it as directed, significantly, to a specific element of the immediate scene. There is a sense that this illumination is not only physical in nature, but that it is a flash of radiance of some other kind. The implication is that the reality of the world that surrounds us cannot be defined by observation alone." For further explanations and interpretations of the artist's work see: Ronald Blythe (ed.) (2001) - "A Vision of Landscape - The Art of Glyn Morgan", Chappel Galleries Monograph, Essex.Awards: 1968 Goldsmiths Company Fellowship, Crete
Commissions: numerous.
International Links:
collections abroad=Auckland & Brisbane City Art Galleries/Australia;
exhibitions abroad=1985 Archway Gallery Houston Texas/USA (solo); 1989 Art Expo NY/USA (mixed);
