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Gwilym Arifor Prichard (né Pritchard; 4 March 1931 – 7 June 2015) was a Welsh landscape painter.

Early life

Born in the village of Llanystumdwy, near Criccieth, Gwynedd, he studied at Bangor Normal College (1951-3) before moving on to Birmingham College of Art, before becoming a teacher in Anglesey. He married fellow artist Claudia Williams in 1953, and altered the spelling of his surname when he discovered that there was another painter of the same name. Their son, Ceri Pritchard, is a painter.

Style

Noted for his "dramatic and colourful" depictions of "dense, craggy, often formidable landscapes" with "a three-dimensional quality", Prichard's paintings "managed to display his joy in the richness and beauty of his native land". He started to become successful during the 1960s, and in 1970 he was elected to the Royal Cambrian Academy.

Professional life

After leaving paid employment in the early 1970s, he became a full-time painter. In the early 1980s the couple began travelling through Europe, living for periods in Skiathos, Greece and Rochefort-en-Terre, Brittany, before settling in Pembrokeshire in 1999. Prichard was awarded the silver medal by the Société Académique des Arts-Sciences-Lettres de Paris in 1995, and was an Honorary Fellow of the University of Wales. In later years he was regarded as the senior living Welsh landscape painter. A major exhibition of his work was held in Cardiff in 2013, and a monograph detailing his work, A Lifetime's Gazing, was published the same year.

Death

Prichard died at his home in Tenby June 7, 2015.

References

1. ^ "Book review: Gwilym Prichard, Claudia Williams: A perfect picture of when love and art collide", The Independent, 22 September 2013. Retrieved 7 June 2015
2. "Painter Ceri Pritchard returns to Wales to exhibit work". BBC News. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
3. ^ Gwilym Prichard, Martin Tinney Gallery. Retrieved 7 June 2015
4. ^ Karen Price, "Capturing Wales: One of our best-loved artists is celebrated with a new book and major exhibition", WalesOnline, 22 April 2013. Retrieved 7 June 2015
5. "Renowned landscape artist Gwilym Prichard dies", BBC News, 7 June 2015. Retrieved 7 June 2015
6. "Artist Gwilym Prichard's exhibition opens in Cardiff", BBC News, 12 April 2013. Retrieved 7 June 2015
7. Amy McCauley, Review of Gwilym Prichard: A Lifetime’s Gazing by Harry Heuser and Robert Meyrick, New Welsh Review, issue 100, 2013 Archived 30 April 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 7 June 2015

• 1931 births
• 2015 deaths
• 20th-century Welsh painters
• 20th-century Welsh male artists
• 21st-century Welsh painters
• 21st-century Welsh male artists
• People associated with the University of Wales
• People from Llanystumdwy
• Welsh landscape painters
• Welsh male painters
• People from Tenby