Sir Kyffin Williams RA (19

The picture radiated positivity with the custard yellow of the sunset shocking against the lush green shadowy land. The circumstances of the sale did not deter the bidding and I was pleased to wave the painting off in the car-boot of its new owner who declared ‘it has always been my ambition to own a Kyffin sunset’. ‘I am sure it will prove to be an exciting and prestigious monument to your ambition and a sound investment for the future’ (I wish I had said)!

What is it is about Sir Kyffin Williams which keeps on delivering from Welsh Sale to Welsh Sale, year to year?

Well to me the painterly quality of his work is plain to see. His oil paintings are typically applied with strikes of palette knife in a bold efficient manner, the confidence of this technique appeals to us. While Kyffin’s watercolours and inkwash pictures have a freedom about them, they are studied but not constrained by the subject matter. He also has a keen eye for character which can be seen in the old farmer’s arthritic hand, the concentrated pose of the working sheepdog and the shafts of light and dark storms in his rugged landscapes.

His work and life have been well documented with so many books on Kyffin that there should be a sub-section under ‘K’ in every Welsh art enthusiast’s library. Many of these writers knew the artist well, but none more so than the artist himself. If you want to understand Kyffin’s character from the outside, then the autobiographical accounts ‘Across the Straits’ and ‘A Wider Sky’ are surely the best starting points. They are two easy-reading biographies, Roald Dahl-esque with self-deprecating humour, personal awkwardness but with a view of the world with all its absurdities from a unique view-point – Kyffin is the consummate raconteur.
I suggest that these characteristics – the humour, awkwardness, the story-telling, his suffering (Kyffin had epilepsy) and his solitude were just as important to his work as the trademark sunset, the farmhouse, the cattle and the old farmers.

I cannot pretend that I knew Kyffin well but through many years of auctioning his work, I have got to know him through his paintings. I have also got to know him from the many conversations I have had with vendors of his paintings and their new owners.

So, my conclusions as to why he keeps on delivering at the auction rooms?

I think the reason Kyffin’s paintings continue to be the object of ambition has never been clearer at this peculiar and uneasy moment in our history.

Kyffin’s paintings are documentaries. They are nostalgic vignettes of Wales in a world that is becoming progressively stranger and less familiar. The upland farms once bursting with life are crumbling to the ground until gone. The old stooped farmer on his way to where else but the funeral has gone too - his own funeral service now just a distant memory and a program in the dresser drawer. What about the small village chapels surrounded by the timeless dry-stone walls? There is a single Audi parked outside and there is an English house name on the door! Only Kyffin’s Snowdonia peaks are unaffected. They remain resolute with the old dry-stone walls. His paintings combine a sense of timelessness with a sense of nostalgia, both as powerful as each other.

Kyffin connects us to our land, a simpler time that we yearn for, he evokes memories of fathers and forefathers we miss. In this confusing and materialistic world, Kyffin is our earth wire. He is the memories of our Nains and Taids, Aunty Dilys and the old family farm, the fields we used to explore innocently, the chapel hymn now scarcely whistled, a time and place before the busy fast roads came taking the people out and bringing people in.

Ultimately Kyffin’s work evokes hiraeth.

We have sold many hundreds of Kyffin Williams works over the years. Looking at a representative group of 113 of them gives a clear picture of the market.

Prices have ranged from a few hundred pounds for prints and small works on paper up to £61,000 for a major oil. The average result is around £20,000 and the median £18,000, and, tellingly, 44% of all works sold for £20,000 or more.

His original oils sit firmly at the top of the market, while watercolours, ink wash studies, linocuts and signed prints offer more accessible entry points for newer collectors of Welsh art.

The painterly quality of his work is plain to see. His oils are typically built up with strikes of the palette knife in a bold, efficient manner, and it is the sheer confidence of that technique that appeals.

His watercolours and ink wash pictures, by contrast, have a freedom about them; they are studied, but never constrained by their subject. And throughout runs a keen eye for character: the old farmer's arthritic hand, the concentrated pose of a working sheepdog, the shafts of light and dark storms across his rugged landscapes.

His work and life are exceptionally well documented. There are so many books on Kyffin that there ought to be a sub-section under "K" in every Welsh art enthusiast's library. His own autobiographies, Across the Straits and A Wider Sky, are the best starting points: easy-reading, Roald Dahl-esque, full of self-deprecating humour and told from a wholly original point of view. Kyffin was the consummate raconteur, and that humour, awkwardness, storytelling, his epilepsy and his solitude were every bit as important to his art as the trademark sunsets, farmhouses, cattle and old farmers.

Kyffin's paintings are documentaries. They are nostalgic vignettes of a Wales that is becoming steadily less traditionally Welsh.

The upland farms once bursting with life are crumbling to the ground. The old, stooped farmer on his way to a funeral - soon enough his own - is now just a distant memory and an order of service in the dresser drawer. The small chapels stand among timeless dry-stone walls, but there is a single Audi parked outside and an English house name on the door.

Only Kyffin's Snowdonia peaks are unaffected. They remain resolute above the old stone walls, and it is this meeting of timelessness and nostalgia, both as powerful as the other, that gives his work its grip.

Kyffin connects us to the land, to a simpler time we yearn for, to the fathers and forefathers we miss. In a confusing, materialistic world, he is our earth wire.

He takes us back to the fields we explored as children, to the chapel hymn now scarcely whistled, to a time and place before the fast roads came, taking people out and bringing others in. Ultimately, his work evokes hiraeth: that untranslatable Welsh longing for home.

At this uneasy moment in our history, the reasons his paintings remain the object of such ambition have never been clearer.

We knew Sir Kyffin Williams socially in his later life, and after he died, Rogers Jones & Co were honoured to be asked to value his estate. But it is through our work as auctioneers, handling his paintings and talking to the people who knew him, that we have come to understand him best.

That expertise sits behind every Kyffin we bring to the Welsh Sale and it is at your disposal whether you are considering selling or simply need a valuation for insurance.

If you would like your Kyffin Williams painting assessed and valued, please request a valuation from our fine art specialist, Ben Rogers Jones.