Ernest Zobole

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Zobole's work with a limited palette - paintings of the Rhondda.

At the University of Glamorgan, Pontypridd, where there is a fine collection of Ernest Zobole paintings, art historian and Zobole expert Ceri Thomas discuss the work of this member of the 'Rhondda Group' of artists. Very early in his career Zobole began to use colours in the way used by avant garde European artists - this was due partly to viewings of London exhibitions of artists such as Van Gogh, but also through the influence of Zobole's tutor Ceri Richards. The way that he limited his palette to blue also had an influence. This is illustrated in Zobole's early 1950's painting 'People Crossing' which has a limited palette much the same as Ceri Richards's 'Trafalgar Square' painting. By looking at the painting 'In the Valley No.4' we see how, as his work progressed, his paintings became more stylised transforming the Rhondda into 'an abstract and simplified universe'. In a clip of archive film, Zobole talks about putting different viewpoints into paintings of the Rhondda at night with illuminated objects set against a black curtain. Howells and Thomas discuss one of Zobole's last paintings, 'Painting about Myself in a Landscape' from the mid 1990's when he knew he didn't have long to live. In it he paints himself inside a rectangle, which probably represents a coffin, surrounded by a 'kind of bubble', the Rhondda, with three hundred and sixty degrees of sky around the perimeter of the painting which makes it seem almost like 'planet Rhondda'.
From: Framing Wales Episode 3
First Broadcast : 10 March 2011

Teachers' notes

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

Subject : Art & Design

Topic : Art history, Landscapes, Painting and drawing

Keywords : Ernest Zobole, Rhondda Group, Limited palette, Rhondda Valley, Urban landscape

Notes : Ask pupils to discuss the work of Zobole in groups. Pupils could create a sketch of a townscape near them in pencil or charcoal and experiment with viewpoints and perspective. Using a limited palette, pupils could create an image of a town or landscape at night choosing the paint colours with care to create a different atmosphere.


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