Over 200 years of Welsh landscapes

Associated media

‘Welsh Landscapes: From Turner to Long’, opening at the award-winning Lightbox gallery and museum in Woking, Surrey on 23 October 2012, showcases works from Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales’ outstanding collection.
 
Organized in partnership with National Museum Wales, the exhibition features highlights from the rich and varied collection of Welsh landscape painting, sculpture and installation held by the museum. ‘Welsh Landscapes: From Turner to Long’ will, for the first-time, bring these highlights together outside of Wales and will explore the ways in which the landscape of Wales has been depicted by artists over the centuries, including J.M.W Turner, Alfred Sisley, John Piper and Richard Long.
 
National Museum Wales’ art collection comprises 500 years of painting, drawing, sculpture, silver and ceramics, including the renowned Davies collection of 19th-century French Realist, Impressionist and Post-Impressionist works.

A changing vision
 
In the 18th century artists began to explore the grand mountains and lakes of north Wales and the winding coastlines and castles of the south. For the past 250 years this breathtaking scenery has attracted an extraordinary number of artists and today these landscapes still provide artistic inspiration. The exhibition at The Lightbox will chart how landscape painting has changed over the centuries and show how the Welsh landscape has provided artistic inspiration for artists both past and present.
 
The exhibition at The Lightbox includes J.M.W Turner’s watercolour of Llandeilo Bridge which was made during, or directly after, his 1795 tour through South Wales. The watercolour depicts Turner’s later pre-occupation with light effects.
 
Alongside J.M.W Turner, the exhibition also explores the work of English Impressionist Alfred Sisley and land-artist Richard Long. Proof that the landscape of Wales still provides inspiration for contemporary artists can be found in the work of Long, whose work combines performance, sculpture and photography. Snowdonia Stones is a work developed in 2006 during a five-day walk in north Wales in which Long’s artistic as well as physical interventions, amidst the welsh landscape, are documented through his land-art photography.
 
‘Welsh Landscapes: From Turner to Long’ is on show at The Lightbox from 23 October 2012 until 27 January 2013, entrance is free (donations welcome). The exhibition is organized in partnership with the National Museum Wales. For further information, please visit www.thelightbox.org.uk  or call 01483 737800.