'Dowlais from the cinder tips, Caeharris' by Cedric Morris, c. 1936-9 (oils)

Description

Cedric Morris (1889-1982), painter, was born in the Sketty area, Swansea. He was a direct descendent of John Morris, owner of the Morriston copperworks. He spent his early years in the Gower and was educated at Charterhouse School. He moved to Paris in 1914 and returned there after the First World War to study art. He travelled across Europe and lived in Cornwall and London. He came to Wales to paint in 1928 and soon became involved in working on behalf of the unemployed, notably through his work at the Dowlais Educational Settlement. Morris was also one of the main organisers of the Welsh Contemporary Art Exhibition which opened at the National Library of Wales in 1935. Morris later moved to East Anglia with his companion Arthur Lett-Haines, with whom he established the East Anglian School of Painting in 1937.