Kyffin Williams was born in Llangefni, Anglesey in 1918. He was steered in the direction of art by a doctor when diagnosed with epilepsy as a young man, prompting him to apply to London’s Slade School of Fine Art in 1941. He then took up teaching at Highgate School in London, remaining as senior art master until he retired. In 1968 he won the Winston Churchill Fellowship to go and study and paint in Y Wladfa, the Welsh settlement in Patagonia. During his distinguished career Kyffin was President of the Royal Cambrian Academy, appointed a member of the Royal Academy, and received the Glyndwr Award for outstanding contribution to the arts in Wales. Awarded the OBE for his services to the arts in 1982, Kyffin was later knighted in 1999 and went on to use his status to campaign for a national art gallery. Famous for his rugged landscapes of North Wales, Kyffin spent his life as an ambassador for art in Wales. He died in September 2006, aged 88.