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Casgliad Maurice Sheppard Collection at the National Library of Wales / Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru

LLYFRGELL GENEDLAETHOL CYMRU

 

THE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF WALES

 

CASGLIAD MAURICE SHEPPARD PPRWS COLLECTION

The Casgliad Maurice Sheppard PPRWS Collection was presented to Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru - The National Library of Wales at Aberystwyth on the 11th October 2007, during the Presidency of Dr R Brinley Jones and the Librarianship of Andrew M W Green. It was taken into the initial care of Dr Paul Joyner, whose scholarship and goodwill had led Sheppard to place the collection with the National Library of Wales. It is the "Private Collection" of some 600 or so, drawings, watercolours and prints, by just over 200 artists which has been formed over the working life of the artist Maurice Sheppard. It was created with very limited means, but it has also benefited greatly from many generous gifts from his friends, be they - distinguished collectors, dealers, or other artists.

The works in the Collection span the years from Richard Brookes, active around 1750 to contemporary artists such as Michael Whittlesea born in 1938. Richard Brookes' pieces are a "Rattle Snake," a "Spotted Lizard" and a "Hooded Snake", all of which are illustrated in his 6 volume "A System of Natural History" published in 1763. Whittlesea is represented by a "Self Portrait." There is a substantial emphasis on artists of the Royal Watercolour Society, the New English Art Club and on some artists who have worked in Wales, but always on works drawn from life.

Richard Wilson and Sir George Beaumont, represent the old school of draughtsmen. Samuel Shelley, John Varley, William Henry Hunt, John Linnell, Peter de Wint, William Turner of Oxford were leading lights in the foundation years of the Old Watercolour Society. John Sell Cotman, Richard Parkes Bonnington, James Duffield Harding and Samuel Prout all travelled to the Continent to draw; David Cox did too, but he made a speciality of working in Wales and he is represented by some 30 drawings. The great Victorians - William Holman Hunt and Sir Edward John Poynter are represented. Poynter's virile male study for the principle figure in "The Catapult" (1868) compares with the Pre-Raphaelite sensibilities of Hunt's - "The Lord Opening the Door to Nicodemus."

Two important sets of pieces are concerned with Sheppard's native Pembrokeshire. The first is by Edmund (or Ferdinand) Becker (active 1880 - 1812) and these show all of the interior and exterior of Pembroke Castle, in its pre-restoration state; there are views too of Tenby Harbour and Castle Ruins. The second group are of pages from the "Sketchbook" of John Fenton (1786 - 1864.) There are also the "covers" and loose text pages from the book. A few pages from this "Sketchbook" appear as "Plates" in his brother - Richard Fenton's "Historical Tour Through Pembrokeshire" published in 1811.

In the Twentieth Century, friendships between the artist and Elizabeth Scott-Moore, Elizabeth Sorrell (1916 - 1991) and Elizabeth Cramp (1929 - 2010) are represented with masterly works by these artists. Their works in turn contrast with "Recording Britain"artists such as Wilfred Fairclough, Charles Knight, Stanley Roy Badmin, and Kenneth Rowntree.

Professor Carel Weight CH CBE RA, (1908 - 1997) - Professor of Painting at the Royal College of Art influenced Maurice Sheppard as his teacher, but, Weight was also a collector himself. Denton Welch, Thomas Barklay Hennell, Paul and John Nash, Vincent Lines and Dame Ethel Walker were all amongst the friends of Carel Weight. Cyril Reason, Ken Howard, Roger de Grey and Olwyn Bowey belong to the worlds of both the Royal College of Art and of the Royal Academy of Arts. Following the death of Professor Weight in 1997, Sheppard inherited Japanese Wood-block Prints and works by George Chinnery, Edward Stott, Keith Grant and Linda Sutton from his Estate.

There are a group of works by artist friends of Pembrokeshire born Augustus and Gwen John. Lady Edna Clarke-Hall (nee Waugh) (1879 - 1979) is represented in depth with a group of 11 studies; James Dickson Innes (1887 - 1914) by a rare early work of "Chepstow Castle" ; Sir William Orpen (1878 - 1931) by a major nude study; and Ambrose McEvoy (1878 - 1927) by a portrait head, and a free study of Dieppe Harbour.

Women painters are strongly represented in the collection and include pieces by Mary Potter, Ray Howard-Jones, Eileen Agar, Joan Vernon-Cryer, Enaid Jones, Jane Carpanini, Flavia Hatt Irwin (Lady de Grey)(1916- 2010), Professor Eileen Hogan, Elinor Bellingham-Smith and Susan Hawker - each has a rich visual language.

The largest group of works in the collection are by Edith Elizabeth Scott-Moore, RWS NEAC, (1902 - 1993) of whom Sheppard was both Executor and Trustee. Their friendship proved to be the basis on which Elizabeth Scott-Moore became the great Benefactor of the Royal Watercolour Society. She was the first woman Trustee of the Royal Watercolour Society elected during the Sheppard Presidency. Using her maiden name, Edith Brier, she worked as an illustrator for many children's "annuals" in the Pre Second World War period, and after her marriage to John Scott-Moore she broadened her style to one of great breadth. She painted "Maurice Sheppard Washing up" during her stay with Sheppard from the 17th - 21st July 1991 when she was 89 years of age.

Sheppard's close friendships with his contemporaries - Christopher Green, Hilary Briscoe, Philippa Lithgow McLachlan (1948 - 2013), Daphne Casdagli, Jacqueline Rizvi, Pamela Kay, Neil Crowther and Paul Newland mean that his collection shows their work to particular advantage.

Maxwell Ashby Armfield RWS (1882 - 1972) is represented by 69 pieces. "Villars" 1931 and "St Margaret's Bay" 1935 were purchased before 1995 - but the "Armfield Album" of 67 studies include drawings with dates from 1911,1915,1917 up to 1966. They were discovered by the artist Tim Davies at the "Cofion Bookshop" Tenby and they were bought as a Christmas Present by Martin Langer for Maurice Sheppard in 2005. With a purchase price of £40, they average out at 60 pence per drawing.

Alfred Heyworth RWS NEAC (1926 - 1976) led Maurice Sheppard to look closely at the art of Alan Munro Reynolds (b 1926), and he subsequently collected some 14 pieces by this artist, which are mainly dated to the mid 1950s. Alan Reynolds gave Sheppard a "Woodcut" from a later period and exhibition catalogues which demonstrate Reynolds' lifelong development.

Of Foreign Masters there are a substantial group of drawings by Jean Hippolyte Marchand (1882 - 1941) - 19 in all, in a variety of graphic media; these are complimented by a single "Landscape" by Andre Dunoyer de Segonzac HRWS (1884 - 1974); and two studies - a "Winter Landscape" and "Female Nude" by Henri-Achille-Emile-Othon Friesz (1879 - 1949) - the Le Havre born artist. "Breton Girl" - a gouache by Lucien Jeanne Simon HRWS (1861 - 1945) is from the years this artist lived in Brittany.

The single work by Pierre Etienne Theodore Rousseau (1812 - 1887), Founder with JF Millet of the "Barbizon School" is exceptional, as is the mysterious - "Woman in a Café" by Chilean painter Alvaro Guevara NEAC (1894 - 1951.)

There are around 130 examples of Sheppard's own drawing from the years 1962 - 2005. They include studies of the gardens of Lord and Lady Carrington, James and Sheila Downs, Mrs Bryda Woodruff and Dr Lyn and Dr Elizabeth Perry. Lord and Lady Pym's Garden at their new home, Everton Park, Sandy was designed by Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe (1900 - 1996) and he called it a "Bosquet." Sheppard was commissioned several times to record its development. The placing of the new house in "The Hazells" Parkland designed by Humphry Repton was achieved with the advice of John St Bodfan Gruffydd (1910 - 2004).

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