Ceri Richards’ was a Welsh painter, printmaker and stage designer. His work is imbued with a complex poetic imagination, sourced from music and literature, as well as from themes rooted in his native Wales. His great appreciation for the works of Dylan Thomas and for composers such as Debussy and Beethoven brought him a continuous source of inspiration for his artworks, which at its most abstract functions as a kind of visual music.
It was during the 1940s that Richards’ work began to associate with the theme of the cycle of nature, related to the poetry of Dylan Thomas, in particular 'The Force that through the green fuse drives the flower.' By the 1950s Richards made a number of paintings paying homage to his favourite composer, Beethoven. Over the following two decades Ceri Richards created paintings, collages and constructions on the subject of the submerged cathedral, inspired by Debussy's prelude La Cathédrale Engloutie.
Works by Richards are held in a number of public collections, including the Tate Gallery, Arts Council, British Council, National Galleries of Scotland and the National Museum of Wales.
Lit: Tate, www.tate.org.uk; Jonathon Clark Fine Art & Co, www.jonathonclarkfineart.com; Jenna Burlingham Fine Art, www.jennaburlingham.com