Born 1903, Dunvant, Wales.  Died 1971, London.

The son of a Welsh-speaking tin-plate worker, Ceri Richards attended Swansea School of Art from 1921-24 and the Royal College of Art in London from 1924-27.  In 1934 he joined the Objective Abstractions Group and exhibited in the International Surrealist Exhibition of 1936.  During the war he was Head of Painting at Cardiff School of Art.  He taught in London at Chelsea Polytechnic from 1947-57, the Slade School of Fine Art from 1955-58 and the Royal College of Art from 1958-60.

Poetry and music were a strong influence throughout his life, and he was profoundly affected by the Picasso exhibition held at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London in 1946.  He designed sets for opera, notably Britten's Noyes Fludde, and stained glass windows for Derby Cathedral and the Cathedral of Christ the King in Liverpool, where in 1966 he was commissioned to design the Tabernacle.  A major exhibition of his work was mounted by the Tate Gallery in 1981 and by the National Gallery of Wales in 2002.

 

	Arrangement for Piano
	Girl At Piano
	Blue Shadow 1950