Queer Places:
Gregynog Hall, Tregynon, Newtown SY16 3PL, UK
Llandinam Church, Llandinam SY17 5DN, UK
Gwendoline Elizabeth Davies,
CH (11 February 1882 – 3 July 1951), was a Welsh philanthropist and patron
of the arts who, together with her sister
Margaret
Davies, is recognised as the most influential collector of Impressionist
and 20th-century art in Wales. She and her sister were independently wealthy,
their fortune inherited from the businesses created by their grandfather, the
industrialist
David Davies. Davies and her sister created one of the most important
private collections of art in Britain and donated their total of 260 works to
what is now the
National Museum Wales in the mid-20th century.
Gwendoline Davies was born at
Llandinam,
daughter of Edward Davies and his wife Mary, who was the daughter of Evan
Jones, a
Calvinistic Methodist minister.[1]
Edward was the only son of the industrialist and philanthropist
David Davies. Gwendoline's brother
David Davies, 1st Baron Davies, was elevated to the
Peerage in
1932 and her sister was
Margaret. Both girls were educated at Highfield School in Hendon.
About 1908, while travelling in Europe, the sisters began to collect art. In
particular, they purchased many works by the
Impressionists and post-Impressionists, although they also acquired
holdings of 20th-century modern artists, such as
Josef Herman,
Oskar Kokoschka,
Augustus John,
Stanley Spencer,
Frank Brangwyn, and
Eric Gill.
Hugh
Blaker, art collector who was curator of the
Holburne Museum from 1905 – 1913 was an adviser to the Davies sisters and
assisted in securing their vast art collection.[2]
Gwendoline and Margaret Davies bought the mansion of
Gregynog just after the
First World War, and set up an arts centre there. In 1923 the sisters
launched the
Gregynog Press, printing fine
limited editions in both English and
Welsh.
Whereas art was Margaret's passion, Gwen was a talented amateur musician.
From 1933 to 1938, they sponsored the
Gregynog Music Festival at their estate, a 3–4-day affair that included
poetry readings. The festivals played host to important composers and other
musical figures of the period, including
Ralph Vaughan Williams,
Edward Elgar,
Gustav Holst, "the conductor
Adrian Boult, and the poet
Lascelles Abercrombie; and performers including
Jelly d'Arányi and the
Rothschild Quartet."[3]
The sisters ended the festival during the build-up to the
Second World War. It was revived during 1955–1961 by
Ian
Parrott, who was Gregynog Professor of Music at
Aberystwyth for more than 30 years. The festival was revived again in 1988
by the tenor
Anthony Rolfe Johnson. It continues under
Rhian Davies's direction.[3]
Neither of the sisters married. Gwen died in
Oxford. Her
ashes were buried at her birthplace of Llandinam, as were her sister's after
her death in 1963.
In 1953 and 1961, the Davies sisters' collection of 260 works was
bequeathed to the
National Museum of Wales, forming the nucleus in the mid-20th century of
its international art collection and greatly expanding its range. It has been
called "one of the great British art collections of the 20th century."[4]
Among these were seven oil paintings that had been bought as
Turners (including
The Beacon Light).[5]
Three of these were subsequently judged to be fake and withdrawn from display.
These works were re-examined by the BBC TV programme,
Fake or Fortune where they were reinstated as genuine Turners. All seven
paintings will now be exhibited together.
In 1967, the Davies Memorial Gallery was purpose-built in
Newtown, Powys with a legacy left by the Davies sisters. In January 2003,
after major refurbishment, the Gallery re-opened as Oriel Davies Gallery in
recognition of the sisters.
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- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwendoline_Davies