James Dickson Innes(1887-1914) was one of Britain’s most important post-impressionist artists. He was born in Llanelli, south Wales and studied at the Slade School of Fine Art, London, where he met Augustus John and Derwent Lees. Together they travelled to north Wales, where Innes was struck by the twin peaks of Arenig Fawr, which was to become his ‘sacred mountain’, and which he returned to paint with an obsession similar to Cezanne’s fascination with Mont St. Victoire. In the process Innes painted some of the most startling pictures produced in Britain in the early 20th century. This, his centenary year, is marked by a retrospective exhibition at the National Museum of Wales and the publication of a monograph.
Martin Tinney Gallery is celebrating the centenary with an exhibition of specially commissioned new work by Wales’ leading contemporary landscape painters, inspired by Arenig Fawr and the surrounding area. In addition to a number of paintings by Innes, the exhibition will feature work by Keith Bowen, Karina Rosanne Barrett, Martin Collins, Clive Hicks-Jenkins, Darren Hughes, Mary Lloyd Jones, Gareth Parry, Iwan Gwyn Parry, Gwilym Prichard, Wilf Roberts, William Selwyn, Sarah Thwaites, Catrin Williams and David Woodford
This unique exhibition is a fitting tribute to one of Wales’ and Britain’s most important landscape painters.