Kyffin 100: Paper to Palette Knife

Kyffin Williams, who taught art at Highgate School from 1944-73 and went on to be one of Wales’s most significant and best-loved artists, was born one hundred years ago this year.  To mark his centenary two exhibitions under the joint banner Kyffin 100: Paper to Palette Knife are planned to take place this autumn in the Highgate School Museum on Southwood Lane and in the Gallery of the Highgate Literary and Scientific Institution (HLS I).  The former will feature the School’s collection of oils alongside paintings borrowed from private collectors and small loans from the National Library of Wales (NLW) in Aberystwyth and Oriel Môn on Anglesey, highlighting to some extent Kyffin’s ‘London years’. 

The HLSI will be displaying a substantial loan of (mostly) works on paper from the NLW.  Together the two exhibitions will constitute the largest ever retrospective of Kyffin’s work to be shown in England and will provide an absorbing overview of the subjects that he painted and the styles and media that he used.  Entry will be free and they will run concurrently from 14th September to 7th October, opening times: Tuesday to Friday 1-5pm, Saturday 11am-4pm and Sunday 11am-5pm.  On 21^st September arts journalist and critic Rian Evans, co-author of the recently published book Kyffin Williams: The Light and The Dark, will be giving a lecture at the HLSI.