There will be a prestigious auction of Welsh art by Gwilym Prichard and Claudia Williams at the Cardiff Saleroom of Rogers Jones Auctioneers on the 21st February. These two are the most celebrated and renowned husband and wife team of the Welsh art story. An auction of over 130 paintings from their family collection will be auctioned to be sold without reserve and expectations are that we will total between £130,000 and £180,000.
According to Ben Rogers Jones, auctioneer, it will be an opportunity to see a very personal collection of paintings, akin to a life-long family album documenting two artistic lives:
“The pictures by two of Wales’ favourite artists have until now been retained by the family because of their affection for each example. Ultimately, there were too many pictures for the family to accommodate practically – they were stored away for years because sometimes it is just so hard to let go. We are truly privileged!”
“Paintings from both artists have graced almost every one of our three times per year Welsh Sale auction in the last twenty years. But to see so many pictures by Gwilym and Claudia in one catalogue and one space is incredibly exciting.”
Gwilym Prichard ( b.1931) died in 2015 and Claudia Williams (b. 1933) in 2024. Ben Rogers Jones received instructions to value for probate Claudia’s estate in the summer of 2024 and when visiting her final home in Tenby, discovered over 130 paintings in the attic which were earmarked as family favourites. The family have kept some but the remainder they have asked to be sold.
“We have arranged the catalogue in a chronological order, starting in north Wales were they met as a young couple and began their artistic journey together. Following this is a section on their overseas travels – they lived in Greece and in France where they painted prolifically and established a buying market in Brittany. The final part of the catalogue represents their homecoming to Wales when they settled in Tenby.”
They both painted very differently in subject matter and style. Gwilym’s ouevre being landscapes in what can be described now as ‘the late 20th Century Welsh school’, – impasto oil that simplifies the landscape. Claudia Williams’ body of work was generally figurative and family focused, often warm in subject matter and colour, typically including a family gathering at the beach or a music lesson in a cosy room.
The collection contains landscapes of where the artists started their lives together, there are landscapes of where they embarked on their artistic adventures further afield, and there are landscapes of where Claudia and Gwilym finally settled back in Wales.
- Lot 75 CLAUDIA WILLIAMS oil on board - rare intimate scene of husband and wife, artists Claudia Williams and Gwilym Prichard, entitled verso 'La Chambre', fully signed, 93 x 93cms.
- Lot 91 CLAUDIA WILLIAMS oil on canvas - entitled verso 'The Red Music Room' on Martin Tinney Gallery label, signed and dated verso 2001, 75 x 101cms. Note from the family: Claudia loved grand pianos and had a small one at their home in Picton Road, Tenby. £4000-8000
- Lot 90 CLAUDIA WILLIAMS oil on canvas - entitled verso 'Hearts are Trumps', signed, signed and dated verso 2000, 73 x 92cms. Note from the family: playing cards, a family favourite! £3500-7000
- Lot 7 GWILYM PRICHARD oil on canvas - farm in landscape, signed, 61 x 76cms. £2000-3500
There are family snapshots too, deeply emotional moments captured between mother and child and lighter moments when the larger family gets together to celebrate life, love and those easy relationships you can only enjoy between siblings, parents and grandparents. Most intimate of all are those moments captured between the two artists, moments that only a long marriage and life-journey together, can possibly explain.
According to auctioneer, Ben Rogers Jones, the collection that is now hanging in the Cardiff auction room is “a Welsh art exhibition like no other and which is unlikely to be repeated.”
“It really is a sight to behold. Like a firework display, the saleroom is alive in technicolour. Whether there is wall space at your home for a purchase or two or not, every follower and enthusiast of Welsh art should take this unique opportunity to come and view the auction.”
The auction will take place in the Cardiff saleroom of Rogers Jones & Co, at 1.00pm on the 21st of February, 2025.
For more information on this auction visit www.rogersjones.co.uk
Auction: 21 February, 2025, 1.00pm; Cardiff Saleroom | Ben Rogers Jones: 07760 261023
Feature image: 1986 Claudia Williams in her Vannes Studio. Credit: Robert Meyrick
