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Cambrian News
6 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Cambrian News
Welsh Government hands National Slate Museum £3.3m for redevelopment
Culture Minister, Jack Sargeant, visited the site recently to meet Amgueddfa Cymru staff and see the ongoing developments. He said: 'As Culture Minister and a proud north Walian, it's been an ideal summer for me –visiting one exciting development or event in the Gogledd after another. The almost-finished, new-look Theatr Clwyd; the National Slate Museum at the beginning of its own transformation journey; the Maes of the National Eisteddfod in Wrexham where I joined tens of thousands of other visitors to celebrate all things Cymraeg and was updated on the progress of the new Football Museum for Wales within Wrexham Museum.
New Statesman
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- New Statesman
Jean-François Millet and the drudgery of rural life
Photo by Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales Until the mid-19th century, art's relationship with the pastoral had largely been a well-mannered thing. And then it took a turn. The piping shepherds of Virgil's Eclogues painted by Claude, Poussin, Domenichino and a host of classical landscapists gave way to a vision of the countryside that was about agriculture rather than Arcadia, labour rather than idyll. There was a long tradition of realistic portrayals of the sweat and toil of country life – Pieter Bruegel the Elder's Seasons of the 1560s, for example, depicted cattle drovers battling the wind and exhausted corn harvesters in a midday slump – but a dreamier and more poetic strand dominated down the centuries. Even when George Stubbs painted seemingly from-life images of haymakers and reapers in 1785, his rustics are as decorous as an antique frieze with not a hair out of place or a sweat patch to darken their muslins. Then, in France, in the middle years of the next century, artists began to look more closely at the truth of country life. They tended to be adherents of realism, a new style that had grown in part as a reaction to the unreality of romanticism, and which set itself against idealisation, demanding instead objectivity and modernity. It was fed by the heightened political tensions that saw the overthrow of the restored Bourbon monarchy in 1830, the economic depression of 1846 and the abdication of King Louis Philippe two years later. So, in 1849, when Gustave Courbet started work on his monumental painting of two labourers smashing rocks, The Stone Breakers, he intended to depict not the dignity of labour but the indignity. The picture's size and tight focus – no pleasing landscape to be seen, just a scruffy bit of roadside – made their muscle-aching grind inescapable. For the few, the countryside might offer bucolic pleasures, but for the many it was a place of poverty and hardscrabble work. If Courbet, a political radical who would be imprisoned with the fall of the Paris Commune in 1871, offered an unflinching version of rural existence, Jean-François Millet (1814-75) presented a no less potent but more comfortable alternative. Unlike Courbet, Millet knew about agricultural work first hand, having been born into a Normandy farming family and brought up to work the land. For him, agricultural labourers were not an abstract group or living illustrations of a partisan viewpoint but real people, of whom he was one. 'I am a peasant among peasants,' he said. Millet is the subject of the National Gallery's latest exhibition, a show focusing on his depictions of 'Life on the Land'. Rural scenes were not his only topic, however; he had a traditional training in Cherbourg and then Paris with the intention of becoming a portraitist. It was lack of success in this field – one portrait was returned to him because of its poor likeness – and in mythologies that led him to look to the countryside for topics. In 1848, the year of revolutions, he painted his first labourer, The Winnower, which was bought by Alexandre Auguste Ledru-Rollin, minister of the interior in the new republican government. It was this painting that inspired Courbet's The Stone Breakers and that Théophile Gautier lip-curlingly lauded as containing 'everything it takes to exasperate the bourgeois with hairless chins'. However overt the political message (though Millet refused to label himself a socialist), there was something else at play in the picture. This solitary man, back bent and muscles flexed as he tosses grain in the air, is also a representation of la France profonde – an archetype who, although dressed in the sabots and homespun of the contemporary rural poor, is a timeless figure, as familiar in antiquity as in the mid-19th century. What is less often noted is the painterliness of the image – the creaminess of the paint, the solidity of the figure picked out by a shaft of light that pierces the barn and turns the flying corn into a waft of gold. With his move to Barbizon in the forest of Fontainebleau in 1849, the peasantry became his dominant theme. In such a place, inequality was manifest. In a letter of 1851, Millet wrote that: 'You are seated under the trees experiencing all the well-being, all the tranquillity that you can enjoy; then you catch sight, coming down a little footpath, of a poor figure laden with a faggot.' The sight, he said, instantly 'takes you back unwillingly to the unhappy condition of mankind, to the fatigue'. Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe He responded with an art of reduction: unadorned landscape, faces distinct but rarely individualised, simplified clothing, legible and utilitarian movement (gleaning, log sawing, walking to the fields, sowing corn), and usually no more than two figures. As a result, for all the mundanity of their tasks, his labourers assume a certain monumentality: he offered nowhere else for the eye to go than their bulky, frequently silhouetted forms. This groundedness was partly the result of his method: although he disliked working outside, he did make drawings, and these, with the overlay of visual memory and his own experience of agricultural work, gave the figures their presence. These tendencies were best represented in his celebrated painting The Angelus (1859), depicting two peasants in a field pausing in their harvesting of potatoes to answer the distant church bell's summons to prayer (it is the church of St Paul's at Chailly-en-Bière, where he would later be buried). Millet himself recalled doing this as a boy on the family farm and it is a picture that makes overt the religiosity sensed rather than stated in many of his paintings. 'The human side of art is what touches me most,' he wrote, and his pair of heads-bowed figures express a simple but profound faith – and to some of the painting's viewers a stoic acceptance of their lot that amounted to a statement of the natural order of human society. While Camille Pissarro would later dismiss the picture as a work of 'idiotic sentimentality', another critic thought that in the image: 'The sonorous waves from the steeple mix… with the fluid waves of air, with the vibrations of light and colour, and the heartbeats of the artist.' The young Van Gogh, before he became a painter, wrote to his brother Theo that: 'That painting by Millet, L'Angélus du soir, that's it, indeed – that's magnificent, that's poetry.' And Salvador Dalí believed it to be 'the richest in unconscious thoughts that ever existed', discerning in it not just a sexual drama (the husband covering his genitals to protect himself against castration by a wife with the outline of a praying mantis) but a couple mourning the death of their son. That it was a significant work, whatever exactly it might mean, was not in doubt: in 1889, the painting was sold at auction for 553,000 francs, then a record price for a modern picture. Other painters, such as George Clausen and Jules Bastien-Lepage, would find inspiration in Millet's work and adopt his themes. However, they added a naturalism that would in turn dilute the numinousness that was a potent feature of his pictures. Meanwhile, there was one more task for Millet's rural beasts of burden to perform: in return for his paintings depicting the quiet dignity of their lives, they helped their one-time fellow son of the soil to financial comfort and the Légion d'honneur. Millet: Life on the Land The National Gallery, London WC2. Until 19 October [See also: Trade unionist Joe Rollin: 'Orgreave was a trap, and we fell for it'] Related
Leader Live
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Leader Live
Poet awarded Crown at Wrexham National Eisteddfod 2025
Owain Rhys from Llandwrog, who now lives in Cardiff, has won the Crown at the National Eisteddfod for his entry Llif 2. The Crown is given for a collection of poems up to 250 lines in free verse on the theme Adfeilion (Ruins). Ifor ap Glyn, one of this year's adjudicators, said: "Llif 2 opens with the simple couplet 'When you forget / every day as you wake' – and it discusses living with someone suffering from dementia, namely the poet's mother. "It's a quiet and sensitive treatment of what must be done to help the mother continue to live with dignity as her memory deteriorates. "This is a powerful and rich collection that gripped me on the first reading, with each subsequent reading revealing further layers to appreciate. "Llif 2 is the most complete and consistent in its standard. "Llif 2, therefore fully deserves the Crown of the Wrecsam National Eisteddfod. "Congratulations." Judges Gwyneth Lewis and Siôn Aled agreed with Mr ap Glyn's assessment. Ms Lewis said: "The subject is firmly rooted in the poem, without being overdone. "There are lovely touches here, such as the poet speaking of clearing the family archive and throwing family papers into a 'museum box'. "A clear, thoughtful, and tender lyrical voice runs through the poem, and Llif 2 has the ability to encapsulate experience in just a few words. "There is exceptional emotional and verbal care here, and it is a joy to award the Crown to Llif 2. "Congratulations to him/her." Siôn Aled said: "Anguish' or 'agony' are the words is the word that come to mind when reading Llif 2's poems. "I consider Hafgan, Llef 2, and Traed yn Dŵr all worthy of the Crown this year, but for such a solid body of craft and piercing expression, Llef 2 takes it in my opinion, and I'm glad that all three of us as judges agree on that. "Warm congratulations to Llef 2, and I truly hope the work will be widely read." Mr Rhys has worked for more than 20 years at Amgueddfa Cymru (National Museum Wales) and now works in community engagement and social value. He holds a degree in archaeology and an MA in museum studies. Mr Rhys is a two-time winner on Radio Cymru's Talwrn y Beirdd as a member of the Aberhafren team. He has previously won National Eisteddfod competitions for englyn and englynion milwr, traditional Welsh poetic forms. He has supported Wrexham AFC since the 1970s. He lives in Fairwater, Cardiff, with his wife Lleucu Siencyn and their children Gruffudd and Dyddgu. The Crown was sponsored by Elin Haf Davies, with a £750 prize donated by Prydwen Elfed Owens in memory of her parents and her childhood in Bwlchgwyn and at Ysgol Gwynfryn. It was designed by Neil Rayment and Elan Rowlands, who also created the crown for the 2024 Rhondda Cynon Taf Eisteddfod. Their design was inspired by the ancient fossils of Brymbo Forest, which date back more than 300 million years to the Carboniferous period. The fossils form the symbolic foundation of the crown, representing the geological and industrial roots of Wrexham. The crown is encircled by a repeating organic pattern based on fossilised forms, with key dates marking milestones in the area's history. Those include the construction of Strode House in 1725, the opening of Bersham Ironworks in 1782, the founding of Brymbo Ironworks, and the completion of the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct in 1795. Other milestones featured are the founding of Wrexham AFC in 1864, the launch of Wrexham Lager in 1882, and the birth of James Idwal Jones, creator of the first historical atlas of Wales, in 1900. By 1913, the nearby colliery employed 10,000 workers. READ MORE: Wrexham: Dafydd Iwan waves goodbye after 60 years of Eisteddfod performances At the centre of the crown is a reimagined 'Nod y Cyfrin' symbol, first used at last year's Eisteddfod, now given a rugged, stone-like texture. The word 'WRECSAM' is set across the crown in a custom font inspired by the Hollywood-style Wrexham sign unveiled in 2021. The Eisteddfod will publish the winning poems on its website after the ceremony, and the full adjudication will appear in the Cyfansoddiadau a Beirniadaethau volume, released after the Chairing Ceremony on Friday afternoon. The Wrexham National Eisteddfod continues in Is-y-Coed until Friday, August 9. More information is available at
North Wales Live
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- North Wales Live
Owain Rhys wins the Crown at the National Eisteddfod in Wrexham
Owain Rhys has been awarded the Crown at this year's National Eisteddfod in Wrexham. The poet, who was born in Llandwrog, near Caernarfon but has been living in Cardiff since he was a teenager, won for his collection of work about his mother living with dementia. The Crown is sponsored by Elin Haf Davies and the cash prize of £750 is presented by Prydwen Elfed Owens, in memory of her parents and her happy childhood years in Bwlchgwyn. The Crown was designed and produced by Neil Rayment and Elan Rowlands in their workshop in Cardiff Bay. Poets were asked to submit a poem or a collection of poems without being in a poem, up to 250 lines, on the subject of 'Ruins'. The judges are Gwyneth Lewis, Siôn Aled and Ifor ap Glyn. Delivering the adjudication from the stage Ifor ap Glyn said that Llif 2's (Owain Rhys' nom-de-plume) collection opens with a simple couplet and it discusses living with someone who suffers from dementia, namely the poet's mother. It is a calm and sensitive approach to what must be done to help the mother continue to live with dignity as her memory decays. He said: "The collection presents a tender picture of a difficult situation that faces so many families today, and we sense the depth of the poet's feelings towards his mother, and her former strength. She in turn is compared to a trinity of strong women from our past, Rhiannon, Heledd and Buddug; and we share the poet's embarrassment at now having to help her sort out her own desk. "This is a powerful and rich collection that grabbed me on the first reading, with each subsequent reading only revealing further layers to appreciate. "In strong competition this year, it could have been discussed to crown Hafgan and Traed yn Dŵr, but Llif 2's collection is the most consistent and consistent in its quality." There was also praise from Gwyneth Lewis in her adjudication: "The text is solid without being exaggerated. There are lovely touches, such as the poet talking about clearing a family archive and throwing family papers into a 'museum box'. A clear, thoughtful and tender lyrical voice runs through the poem, and Llif 2 has the ability to summarize an experience in a few words. "Writing directly or being so spare-words is not easy. There is a special emotional and verbal care and it is a joy to award the Crown to Flow 2." And like his fellow judges, Siôn Aled also praises the work of Llif 2 - although he believes that two other poets are also worthy of the Crown this year. Owain Rhys lives in Cardiff with his wife, Lleucu Siencyn, and his children, Gruffudd and Dyddgu. After working for Amgueddfa Cymru for over twenty years, he now works in the field of community engagement and social value. He was a member of the Aberhafren team, which has twice won the BBC Radio Cymru programme, Talwrn y Bairdd. He has also been victorious in the englyn competitions in the National Eisteddfod. He has a degree in archaeology, and an MA in Museum Studies. He loves traveling Wales and the world to see castles, ruins and tombs. He has been a fan of the Wrexham football team since the 1970s, and has experienced many disappointments (and some joys!) while supporting them over the years.
South Wales Argus
18-07-2025
- South Wales Argus
Caerleon: £250,000 secured to explore Caerleon Roman remains
The Caerllion Rufeinig - Porth i Partneriaeth/Roman Caerleon Gateway Partnership Project in Caerleon, Newport, has been awarded the sum from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. The project aims to improve Caerleon's heritage and tourism offerings for both residents and visitors. The initiative will bring together the Welsh Government's historic environment service Cadw, Amgueddfa Cymru (Museum Wales), and Newport City Council. Over the next 18 months, the partners will engage with the community and stakeholders to reconnect them with Caerleon's Roman remains and collections and finalise a shared vision for the future. The funding will support a series of studies and plans that aim to share Caerleon's history, address heritage crime and antisocial behaviour, understand visitor and community needs, and enhance the visitor experience. The project will culminate in comprehensive master plans for Roman Caerleon. Minister for Culture, Jack Sargeant, said: "By bringing together key heritage organisations with the local community, this partnership creates an exciting opportunity to transform how we experience Caerleon's remarkable Roman heritage. "This collaborative approach embodies our commitment to making Wales's cultural heritage accessible to all while ensuring its preservation for future generations." Caerleon is home to major visitor attractions, including the National Roman Legion Museum, run by Amgueddfa Cymru, and the excavated remains of an amphitheatre, fortress baths and military barracks in the care of Cadw. Dating from AD 74-5, the Roman fortress of ISCA remained one of just three permanent legionary bases in Britain for over 200 years. When this initial project is complete, the partners intend to seek further funding to develop and deliver an ambitious project to kickstart the delivery of the new vision and plans alongside the community and stakeholders. On behalf of Caerleon Community Advocates, Neil Pollard said: "We are thrilled that Caerllion Rufeining/Roman Caerleon will be receiving the funding. "This will help us work directly with the local community, ensuring that the 'partnership's' plan is developed with community voices at its forefront." Andrew White, the National Lottery Heritage Fund director of Wales said: "We're delighted to support this innovative partnership project with £250,000, made possible by National Lottery players. "This will help unlock the extraordinary potential of Roman Caerleon, one of Europe's most significant archaeological sites, whilst delivering real benefits for the local community." Lessons learned from the project will be applied to other high-profile or under-appreciated heritage sites where attractions run by different organisations could benefit from collaborative approaches with their communities. The project aligns with the Welsh Government's recently released Priorities for Culture, as well as recommendations in various organisational plans including the Tailored Review of Amgueddfa Cymru and Newport City Council's 10-year Culture Strategy. This comes just over a year after the council agreed a proposed partnership with the museums service Amgueddfa Cymru, which runs the National Roman Legion Museum, while Cadw – the Welsh Government's historic environment service – cares for the Roman Fortress Baths and amphitheatre.
