ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS OIL ON BOARD ENTITLED 

" A FARM COTTAGE SNOWDONIA"

 SIGNED K A COOPER 

AND INSPIRED BY SIR JOHN KYFFIN WILLIAMS 


A superb oil painting signed by the artist, K A Cooper, in a manner heavily influenced by and closely resembling the works of Sir John Kyffin Williams. 


It is understood that Cooper may have studied alongside Williams in the early days of his career. Unlike Williams, Cooper was not a prolific artist and little is known of his life. Some have also suggested that he may have died during WW2. 


A little about Sir Kyffin Williams: 

Sir John Kyffin Williams, OBE, RA,(9 May 1918 1 September 2006) was a Welsh landscape painter who lived at Pwllfanogl, Llanfairpwll, on the Island of Anglesey.  Williams is widely regarded as the defining artist of Wales during the 20th century and his works are highly sought after, currently commanding over £60,000 at auction.


Williams was born in Llangefni,  Anglesey, one of two sons into an old landed Anglesey family.  His father was a bank manager.   Williams wrote that his mother was an emotionally repressed woman who had a virulent dislike of the Welsh and the Welsh language.  Kyffin Williams was educated at Moreton Hall School, Trearddur House School in Anglesey, then at Shrewsbury School where he contracted polio encephalitis which lead him to develop epilepsy, a misfortune he later described as "my greatest fortune".  He joined the 6th Battalion Royal Welch Fusiliers as a lieutenant in 1937. After he failed a British Army medical examination in 1941 (because of epilepsy), the examining doctor suggested he pursue his interest in art.  


Williams enrolled at London's Slade School of Fine Art in 1941 (relocated to Oxford during the war), gaining prizes for portraiture at the end of both his second and third years.  He then achieved his ambition to teach art by accepting a position at Highgate School, London, where he was senior art master from 1944 until 1973.  His pupils included the historian Sir Martin Gilbert, Royal Academicians Anthony Green and Patrick Procktor and composers John Tavener and John Rutter.  


Williams' works typically drew inspiration from the Welsh landscape and farmlands. His works may be seen in a permanent exhibition in the Oriel Kyffin Williams Gallery which opened in 2008 at Oriel Ynys Mon in Llangefni, Anglesey, as well as at many other galleries elsewhere in Britain. He was president of the Royal Cambrian Academy and was appointed a member of the Royal Academy in 1974.   Wales never left his consciousness or imagination, as he would return home in holidays, take his study sketches back to London and complete his canvasses. 


Williams' particular technique was applying thick oil paint with a palette knife, which is precisely the technique adopted by Cooper in this instance.  Williams was predominately a landscape painter but he also was an accomplished portraitist and something of a cartoonist.  In 1968 he won a Winston Churchill Fellowship to study and paint in Y Wladfa, the Welsh settlement in Patagonia, South America.  This added a significant body of work to his oeuvre and the light in Patagonia radically changed his palette.  On retiring from Highgate school Williams returned to Anglesey and spent the next 30 years painting, and promoting Welsh schools of Art and Welsh art in general.


In 1949 Williams had his first one-man-show at a private gallery in London.  His first Patagonia exhibition took place in 1971.  Later in 2006, the Welsh singer and Manic Street Preachers front man James Dean Bradfield included a track called "Which Way to Kyffin", dedicated to Williams, on his album The Great Western.  In 1995 Williams received the Glyndwr Award for an Outstanding Contribution to the Arts in Wales during the Machynlleth Festival.   He was awarded the OBE for his services to the arts in 1982 and was knighted in 1999.


Never having married, Williams died, without heirs, on 1 September 2006, aged 88, at St Tysilio Nursing Home on Anglesey.  He had been at the home on the outskirts of Llanfairpwll for just over a week after spending two weeks as a patient at Ysbyty Gwynedd, Bangor.  He had been suffering from prostate cancer and from lung cancer, believed to be a result of working with lead-based paints.  Williams was buried at St Mary's Church, Llanfair-yng-Nghornwy. Paying tribute to Williams after his death, bass-baritone singer and Williams collector Bryn Terfel said, "I'm deeply saddened by the passing of Wales's foremost ambassador in the visual arts.   Long may his memory live on in the legacy of his numerous, wonderful paintings."  


The National Library of Wales was one of the first national institutions to purchase one of his works in the late forties and continued to support his work throughout his life. In acknowledgement of his gratitude for their support he bequeathed them his papers and a significant body of his works to the National library.  They now hold probably the largest single body of his works.


Please see the attached photos which are an integral part of this description.  All items are described to the best of my knowledge, however I usually don't state the obvious as this can be seen from the numerous photos provided. As can be seen from the attached photos the painting and its current frame are in excellent condition. 


Items are offered at prices which reflect a number of factors including their current condition.  Please appreciate that all items are antique/vintage/used and therefore are likely to show varying degrees of age-related wear and tear. If you are looking to purchase an item in guaranteed 100% pristine condition, may I suggest you consider purchasing something new rather than antique or vintage which will almost inevitably show some signs of age. 


If you need any additional information please contact me before proceeding with a purchase or bid. Please be aware that this item is offered for sale elsewhere so if you intend to purchase please do not hesitate as it could lead to disappointment!   This could also be the closest you will come to owning a Kyffin Williams!


APPROXIMATE DIMENSIONS: 

  Overall:  62.5 cm x 42.5 cm  

  Image:   52.0 cm x 34.0 cm


This item can be shipped worldwide, subject to the schedule of excluded countries noted in the listing. Please provide confirmation of your address along with an email address and telephone number as these may also be required by the carrier. 


If the item is to be shipped out of the UK (including to the Channel Islands, Isle of Man, the Scottish Islands and N. Ireland,) please get in touch (ideally prior to bidding or purchasing a 'buy it now' item) in order to agree a final shipping quote as THE CHARGE SHOWN IN THE LISTING IS AN ESTIMATE FOR YOUR GUIDANCE ONLY. 


In the event of a small underestimation of final shipping cost, I will accept to meet that shortfall. However, if there is a significant variation between the estimated shipping cost and actual cost then the additional sum payable will be advised to the buyer for settlement via a debit which will be raised in PayPal. 


Shipping/postage costs from the UK do not include any provision for import or similar taxes or customs duties or third party handling fees which may become payable in the buyers home country.  All of these and the like (if any) are strictly for the buyers own account.   



Please also take particular note that in the unlikely event that an item needs to be returned to the UK, any sum which becomes payable due to the re-import of the item will be for the original buyers account and must be paid prior to shipping the item back to the UK. Unless otherwise agreed, Insurance is not provided and is something for the buyer to arrange for themselves, if required.  Every effort will be made to pack items as safely and securely as possible, please appreciate however that no liability will be accepted for loss or damage once the item has been dispatched.  Please also refer to the protection which may be provided to you under the eBay money back guarantee scheme.