Evan Walters and the Miners

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A look at Evan Walters' portraits of coal miners.

Presenter Kim Howells and Barry Plumber discuss the merits of three of Walters' portraits showing coal miners which were painted in 1926 and 1931. The first portrait 'The Welsh Collier (1926)' is of William Hopkin, a distant relative and friend of Walters, painted during the 'lock-out' of the 1926 miners' strike. This collier would not have been earning a wage at the time - he is not a well-looking man and has what could be described as a fierce look in his eyes. The second portrait, 'The Welsh Collier (1931)' is of another miner known to Walters - a collier at the end of a shift. He has a different facial expression from the miner in the first portrait - a much more relaxed expression showing a collier in work, with the distinctive pink lips and whites of the eyes accentuating the grime of the coal dust on his face. The third portrait, 'The Convalescent Miner', Howells suggests is possibly the most intriguing - with a thoughtful look, again not of a well-looking miner locked-out during the 1926 strike. These portraits show Walters's wonderful technique, quite different to what else was being painted in South Wales or Britain at the time .
From: Framing Wales Episode 2
First Broadcast : 3 March 2011

Teachers' notes

Age Group : 7-9,9-11,11-14

Subject : History, Art & Design

Topic : Industrial Wales and Britain, Twentieth century world, Art history, Portraits

Keywords : Coal industry, Industry, People at work, Evan Walters, Coal miners,

Notes : Use to have class discuss working conditions down a mine and write a collection of descriptive words to describe it - they could write and illustrate a poem/short piece of writing about being a miner. Pupils could make brief preliminary sketches of miners and then develop these into mono prints using black ink on white paper or white ink on black paper to develop a range of images of miners at work. Suggest students are asked to make charcoal drawings of miners and mining scenes.


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