Rare cartoons by renowned portrait artist David Griffiths gifted to the National Library of Wales
20 humorous cartoons made in the late 1960s have been donated to the National Library of Wales by renowned Welsh portrait artist David Griffiths MBE. The cards, which have been hidden away for decades, were made for BBC Wales television productions such as the Heddiw (Today), Y Tywydd (The Weather) and music programmes before there were such things as on-screen computer graphics.
They are rare because usually they would have been discarded by producers but they help to tell the story of how television was made, and how early-career artists would make a living from their craft.
The cartoons were used to display stock prices on the news and provide humorous context to weather reports. Griffiths also made a series of cartoons for the music programme Disc a Dawn which were used as backgrounds to English songs, by artists such as the Beach Boys and The Kinks.
One of these cartoons can be seen in the September 1969 episode of Disc a Dawn, where Dafydd Iwan sings Croeso Chwedeg Nain – a song about the 1969 investiture of Prince Charles. This can be seen at National Library of Wales’ Clip Corners located across Wales where anybody can access the Wales Broadcast Archive.
David Griffiths who also established the Albany Gallery in Cardiff, went to to have a very successful career as an oil painter, with his portrait of Prince Charles in 1970 propelling his career. He has gone on to paint many Welsh people of note including former First Minister Mark Drakeford, Shane Williams and Dame Siân Phillips, which are all housed at the National Library, as well as painting the then Prince Charles for a second time in 2002.
The cartoons were presented to the Library by Arfon Haines Davies, friend of David Griffiths, and editor of his autobiography.
Arfon Haines Davies said:
“I’m fascinated with these cartoon caption cards which show David Griffiths’ sense of humour and skill as an artist.
Many of these cards were for the popular Welsh language magazine programme Heddiw which was broadcast live on BBC Wales on weekday evenings. This meant that there was often a very tight deadline for the artist.”
Morfudd Bevan, Art Curator at the National Library of Wales said:
“David Griffiths has always been a great supporter of the National library, and we are tremendously proud to house a comprehensive collection of the artist’s portraits within our National Art Collection. These cartoons will be a priceless addition to our collection of Welsh illustrators’ artistic works which are housed within our archives.”
