Gwendoline Davies

Gwendoline Elizabeth Davies, CH (11 February 1882 – 3 July 1951), was a Welsh philanthropist and patron of the arts who, together with her sister Margaret, is recognised as the most influential collector of Impressionist and 20th-century art in Wales. She and her sister were independently wealthy, their fortune inherited from the businesses created by their grandfather, the industrialist David Davies. Davies and her sister created one of the most important private collections of art in Britain and donated their total of 260 works to what is now the National Museum Wales in the mid-20th century.

Gwendoline Davies was born at Llandinam, her father Edward being the only son of David Davies, an industrialist and philanthropist. Her brother was David Davies, 1st Baron Davies and her sister Margaret. Both girls were educated at Highfield School in Hendon.

About 1908 while travelling in Europe, the sisters began to collect art. In particular, they purchased many works by the Impressionists and post-Impressionists, although they also acquired holdings of 20th-century modern artists, such as Josef Herman, Oskar Kokoschka, Augustus John, Stanley Spencer, Frank Brangwyn, and Eric Gill. Hugh Blaker, art collector who was curator of the Holburne Museum from 1905 – 1913 was an adviser to the Davies sisters and assisted in securing their vast art collection.

Gwendoline and Margaret Davies bought the mansion of Gregynog just after the First World War, and set up an arts centre there. In 1923 the sisters launched the Gregynog Press, printing fine limited editions in both English and Welsh.

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