Ivor Davies Portreadau

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-Some people ask who I am.

-Ivor Davies? Or Ifor Davies.

-Or even Ifor Dafis!

-The problem is worse than that.

-I

-don't know who I am.

-I'm hundreds of people.

-When I write in Welsh, I'm Ifor.

-When I write in English, I'm Ivor.

-The problem is, the English say

-"Iffor", and I can't stand that.

-There are hundreds of different

-personalities within me...

-..within us all, without names.

-But I know very well where I'm from.

-I was brought up in Penarth.

-After some years

-in Switzerland and Scotland...

-..I returned to Penarth,

-where I shall remain.

-Penarth was a small,

-undistinguished village...

-..before the Marquess of Bute

-opened the docks in 1865.

-South Wales coal was exported

-to the four corners of the world.

-As in the case of Cardiff

-and Barry...

-..it was the sweat and sacrifice of

-the Valleys that made Penarth rich.

-My parents grew up in Penarth,

-but their roots were in the West.

-My mother's family hailed from

-Llwynpiod near Peniel, Carmarthen.

-She and her sisters were born into

-a family of carpenters and farmers.

-When she was 20, my grandmother, who

-spoke only Welsh, moved to Penarth.

-She married Ivor Phillips,

-a butcher.

-They met when he was buying

-cattle in Carmarthenshire.

-In 1906, they had a daughter,

-Gwenllian, my mother.

-In the course of time, my mother

-met my father, David Howell Davies.

-He had just returned from Paris,

-where he worked in a bank.

-His father, a former

-Scotland Yard detective...

-..and fingerprint expert,

-came from Cardiganshire.

-My father, who is 92,

-speaks a little Welsh.

-But we converse in English.

-Thanks to my mother and grandmother,

-I grew up speaking Welsh.

-Penarth was an anglicised town,

-with no Welsh schools then.

-Without their influence, I doubt

-if I'd have retained my Welsh.

-Though I'm very proud of my Welsh,

-I realised at a young age...

-..that I was articulate in a medium

-that didn't depend on words.

-I feel I've always been an artist.

-Even at the tender age

-of three, I drew.

-It was an activity

-I took for granted.

-Most people can draw, but they stop

-once they go to school.

-Art isn't considered

-a serious school subject.

-But that's what influenced me most

-- artists.

-Both my grandfathers had enormous

-oil paintings which I admired.

-They were marvellous.

-I thought everyone had paintings.

-When I was 13, I began to paint...

-..unusual subjects

-for a boy of that age.

-Paintings of hell.

-Horrific images I'd seen

-in the old family Bible.

-For some reason, I was also painting

-scenes from the Mabinogion.

-I don't know how I discovered

-these subject matters.

-The story of Gwydion and the swine.

-Beginning to paint in oils

-was a great venture.

-Buying the small tubes,

-and squeezing them.

-I started to paint on canvas...

-..just like the paintings

-I'd seen at both my grandfathers'.

-That was real painting.

-My first oil painting, at the

-age of thirteen or thereabouts...

-..was of a boy fishing from a tree.

-A boy probably quite like me.

-When I was fourteen, I made another

-oil painting of my grandfather.

-He had a very interesting head.

-He had large, black eyes.

-His was hair beginning to turn grey.

-A face full of character.

-A short time later, as I approached

-my fifteenth birthday...

-..I began to take an interest

-in my surroundings.

-In the Penarth of my youth, the sea

-and ships were important elements.

-At one time,

-I wanted to be a sailor.

-But I settled for

-painting ships and sailors.

-This is how

-I saw myself at the time.

-From the age of fifteen, I wanted

-to chronicle the people...

-..and things I saw around me,

-in Penarth and Cardiff.

-In the past, artists recorded

-monarchs and dignitaries.

-But my interest lay

-in ordinary people and situations.

-Even things as ordinary

-as rubbish bins.

-I was years ahead

-of the '50s kitchen sink school...

-..like Jack Smith and Bratby.

-It was perhaps inevitable

-that I went to chapel less often.

-Up to that point, it had greatly

-influenced my family and myself.

-Much of Penarth Welsh society

-revolved around chapels...

-..socially and spiritually.

-I was disappointed in the education

-I received in Penarth.

-Painting or art were not

-'A' level subjects at school.

-I enjoyed Welsh and French...

-..but I yearned for my great love,

-my vocation - painting.

-We had very little art at school.

-No history of art.

-When I saw art students

-around Cardiff...

-..I thought there was something

-dramatic and beautiful about them.

-They were rather bohemian.

-That's what I wanted to be!

-My parents supported

-my wish to be an artist.

-But my father hoped I'd train

-as a teacher to earn a living.

-So that's what I did.

-I came here as a sixteen-year--old,

-in September 1952.

-For the first two years, the basic

-skills were instilled in me.

-For example, perspective.

-Art college education was classical

-and conservative at that time.

-Nevertheless, I was very fond

-of the college.

-The time I spent as a student

-was invaluable.

-This is when I fell

-in love with sculpture.

-I even considered

-a career as a sculptor.

-But paint and canvas

-won the day in the end.

-In 1956, I went to Swansea,

-to qualify as a teacher.

-After the teacher

-training course in Swansea...

-..I tried to avoid becoming

-a teacher for about thirteen weeks.

-I just painted. A very happy time.

-But that couldn't last. I found a

-job in an Ealing school in London.

-Those 18 months were the only time

-I've lived and worked in England.

-I saw all the exhibitions...

-..many interesting styles

-from Europe and America.

-I didn't like the school much,

-so I went to Switzerland.

-I taught English to youngsters

-at the university in Lausanne...

-..and at the 'gymnase',

-as they're called.

-From Central Europe, you could travel...

-..to Italy, Germany, everywhere,

-to see the marvels of the ages.

-Switzerland and the continent

-helped me mature.

-Not only in the way I perceived

-Renaissance works in Italy...

-..but also the way

-I viewed the houses...

-..built from the same materials

-that blended with the areas' rocks.

-I tried to create pictures

-out of gesso plaster.

-I wasn't interested in painting

-in the American style...

-..like abstract expressionism.

-I was more interested

-in the way Europeans painted...

-..especially the Catalans

-and the Italians...

-..with different layers of colour,

-or walls, or cement.

-They expressed very interesting emotions.

-After Switzerland, I returned

-for a short while to Wales.

-In 1963, I was off again

-to Edinburgh.

-The date is significant. This was the sixties.

-An experimental time - a revolutionary time.

-A time when you could "do your

-own thing", as they said.

-And that's what I did! And how!

-

-The camera shakes. There are

-scratches on the celluloid.

-Nevertheless, these old films record

-some of the experimental art...

-..with which I was involved

-nearly forty years ago.

-At the heart of it all was

-the concept of creating something...

-..then destroying it.

-In the sixties,

-I used destruction creatively.

-A few others were doing this.

-But I was the first in Britain

-to use explosives in art.

-Why not use explosives to show

-what was happening in the world?

-The explosions of war, for example.

-I realise many people believe that works of art...

-..should be permanent and lasting.

-That isn't necessarily true.

-People have been creating things,

-and destroying them over the ages.

-When there's a feast in the orient,

-they work on very detailed models...

-..then destroy them.

-Fireworks destroy themselves.

-There's nothing strange

-in destroying art.

-The art is in the way

-it is destroyed, after all.

-I was trying to create original work

-which belonged to its period.

-The spirit of the age, 'Zeitgeist'.

-For me, exploding artwork

-was challenging.

-That was the spirit of those days.

-No-one in the art colleges did that.

-You could get expelled for that.

-But I'm afraid

-that's what the Academy does now.

-So I don't do it any more.

-But there's always room for

-explosive and fiery personalities...

-..in my work. This is Dr William

-Price from Llantrisant.

-He burnt the body of his son,

-Iesu Grist (Jesus Christ), in 1884.

-He was responsible for legalising

-cremation in Britain.

-After 15 years in Scotland, in 1978

-I returned to Wales, to Newport.

-I lectured at the Gwent College

-of Further Education for 10 years.

-After that, I concentrated

-on painting and writing.

-But, of course,

-I have painted all my life.

-Something which saddens

-me greatly is the fact...

-..that Wales has had to copy England.

-The status of the visual arts

-has always been low in Britain.

-When you see exhibitions

-from France, Italy or Germany...

-..you can see that very little

-has happened in Britain...

-..especially since

-the time of Cromwell.

-The English are fond of functional

-work, like William Morris...

-..rather than visual work which is

-deemed 'fancy' to the Briton's eye.

-Schools are rejecting music

-and art. They're of no use.

-Wales has always had to follow

-England, and Britain.

-I hope things will change.

-Now, many Welsh people stay in Wales

-to paint, and do interesting work.

-The National Eisteddfod has been

-an excellent patron...

-..for visual arts in recent years.

-It's almost too professional now.

-It's like a gallery in a city.

-But I'm not complaining!

-I'd like to see

-more traditional craft.

-I'd also like to see more amateur

-work exhibited there...

-..as well as the excellent

-professional artists.

-There are some

-exceptional amateurs...

-..natural painters,

-who haven't studied art.

-..natural painters,

-who haven't studied art.

-

-The people who ask

-'What is Welsh art?'...

-..are usually English,

-and opposed to the concept.

-I reply that it's everything we do. All I paint is Welsh art

-Everything artists

-in Wales paint is Welsh art.

-We are too close to see clearly

-if there's a Welsh perspective.

-Art does not have one perspective.

-That wouldn't be interesting.

-There are hundreds of perspectives.

-A different style, in different

-places, and different moments.

-You could say my work is underground art. It's subversive.

-It isn't comforting.

-Uncomfortable about contemporary

-Wales and the state of the language.

-I first realised this when I was

-in Scotland, back in the '60s.

-Until then, I didn't realise

-there was a problem.

-Back in Wales, I met Paul Davies

-and the 'Beca' movement.

-Paul and his brother Peter

-were the movement.

-I asked if I could join.

-We didn't burn down tollgates.

-It was envy and hatred

-of Welsh traditions...

-..and the Welsh language

-that we burnt.

-We saw the way Welsh institutions...

-..were destroyed,

-usually by people from England...

-..buying holiday homes and so forth.

-The subject of heroism

-is interesting.

-In front of the Palace of Westminster...

-..one can see monuments

-to Winston Churchill...

-..and Oliver Cromwell.

-More Welsh heroes...

-..should be celebrated,

-as well as the obvious ones.

-I see John Jenkins,

-Sion Aubrey Roberts...

-..and the Bombing School Arsonists

-as great heroes.

-They have been imprisoned

-for their belief in Wales.

-Most of these have no monument.

-They are part of Welsh history...

-..as well as people

-like Owain Glyndwr.

-Then there are totally different

-people, like Iolo Morgannwg.

-I don't think there's a monument

-to Iolo Morgannwg anywhere.

-These people

-form a part of our heritage.

-A part of our

-nation's memory, you might say.

-They deserve some sort of

-remembrance, pictorially at least.

-All art is political.

-Everything in art is political, in one way or another.

-Art has political connotations.

-We can't help but be political.

-When we paint or write,

-or do anything in the arts...

-..we think, "What should I do?"

-"I'll avoid this,

-someone else has already done it."

-"I can't do that,

-it will be censored."

-But if your choice is to do work

-that is censored, full marks to you.

-I'd like to paint

-every picture differently.

-In sequence, or at the same time.

-I work on about

-50 paintings at one time.

-I'd like them all to be different.

-After doing one, there's no point

-repeating the message.

-Do another, with a new message.

-Style is nothing. What is style?

-Picasso's paintings are all similar,

-although everyone says they differ.

-In a way, my pictures

-resemble each other.

-If you knew them,

-you'd see the resemblance.

-But you can't escape

-from your own soul...

-..however much you want to do

-something totally new and different.

-I can't recall if

-I've ever painted in order to sell.

-I'm trying to be truthful.

-It's difficult to remember.

-If I painted to sell,

-no-one would buy the work.

-I wouldn't be painting

-from my heart, or from my soul.

-When you paint

-from your own thoughts...

-..people are interested in it.

-People aren't stupid.

-Everyone is the same in a way,

-with similar feelings.

-When they see their own thoughts

-expressed on canvas...

-..they react positively.

-S4C Subtitles by:

-GWEAD