All those years ago, there was a determination in Wales to rebuild
IN AN unexpected way, the coronavirus outbreak has created a new meaning for some of Wales’ best-known public art.
Focusing on a huge painting by Frank Brangwyn in the main hall of the National Museum in Cardiff, the museum’s director David Anderson said the painting – A Heavy Gun in Action – somehow brought together the narrative of Welsh soldiers returning from the First World War with events that weren’t necessarily creditable at the time.
Speaking on a video he decided to make to capture the uniqueness of this time, Mr Anderson says: “I’m standing in front of Frank Brangwyn’s painting A Heavy Gun in Action.
“It reminds me of the museum as it was 100 years ago – incomplete, a lot of the building still to be done, and in the immediate aftermath of the First World War, in which so many families in Wales had lost a son, or a father or a relative.
“Only a year before 1920, in 1919, there had been terrible race riots in Cardiff in which lives were lost as well.
“And at the same time, then as now, there was a global pandemic all the way across the world, which of course touched Wales among almost every other country too – again, with huge loss of life.”
Pulling together the themes, Mr Anderson told us how the giant painting had ended up in Cardiff.
“It was originally meant as a tribute to members of the House of Lords who were killed in the war, but it didn’t work out like that. It was seen as an appropriate mural for the south wall of the National Museum’s main hall.”
At the time, in the wake of race riots that left three ethnic minority citizens dead, there was some agonising over the nature of the Wales that was being created.
Yet nation builders saw the new National Museum as a positive emblem of what Wales could become.
Mr Taylor said: “The museum was only partly built, and this was a time of great hardship in Wales.
“Nevertheless, many, many people were determined that we would have national institutions, and 100 years on we have the National Museum, the National Library and of course now the Senedd as well – all symbols of nationhood for Wales.”
For Mr Anderson, today’s pain provides an opportunity for something positive to be created in the future.
He said: “These are very hard times, and they’re times when we feel fear and uncertainty.
“We can remind ourselves that at another time just like that, all those years ago, there was a determination in Wales to rebuild afterwards, and to complete this wonderful museum with its wonderful collections.
“And we need to remember now that, if that determination had not been there, then so many of the wonderful things that the museum has done over these last 10 decades would never have happened – those things which are to do with understanding ourselves as a nation, and learning and sharing and giving our gifts really, if you like, of culture to each other.”
While the national museum and its sister institutions are currently shut because of the coronavirus, Mr Anderson wants to develop more sophisticated digital ways of accessing the collections.
“What we’re in at the moment is partly a time for reflection, but we also need to be thinking about how we can plan for when the coronavirus outbreak is over.
“I think we can be inspired by those who had the vision to create our national collections 100 years ago.
“The flu that ravaged through Europe at the end of the First World War led to many deaths in Wales, but that didn’t stop the development of our national institutions.
“What Wales has become cannot be taken away. It’s very important that our shared culture is celebrated, and the National Museum is pivotal to that in the future.
“We may be in an awful situation at the moment, but our collections help provide us with the social fabric that will take us forward into the future.”
While the museums will remain closed to visitors for the foreseeable future, there are many online resources which can be accessed, including paintings in the collections with background information.
“Of course it is frustrating that we can’t allow personal visits at the moment, for obvious reasons, but we will be around once the outbreak is over, and in the meantime people can plan future trips by looking on our website to see what is available.
“In Wales we are very lucky to have such rich collections, and they will be wholly accessible once more before long.”
Despite the grimness of the times, David Anderson remains optimistic.
“Given the quality of what we have, it would be foolish not to be,” he said.