The Road to Merthyr Tydfil 1954
Thomas Nathaniel Davies (1922–1996)
Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru / The National Library of Wales
Painter, draughtsman, printmaker and teacher, full name Thomas Nathaniel Davies, who sometimes signed his early works Thomas N Davies, for example his Portrait of Alan Shipton, used in Jack Beddington’s 1957 volume Young Artists of Promise. Davies was born in Dowlais, Glamorgan, where his stonemason father worked intermittently in the local steelworks. When the works closed the family moved to Cardiff, where Davies excelled at art and football. Cardiff city scouts expressed interest, but art won and Davies became the first member of his family to pursue higher education when he entered Cardiff College of Art in 1939, Ceri Richards teaching and befriending him. After World War II service in the Royal Corps of Signals in North Africa Davies returned to Cardiff, completed his teaching diploma and in 1947 joined the staff of Newton Abbot Art School, later amalgamated with South Devon College.
Text source: 'Artists in Britain Since 1945' by David Buckman (Art Dictionaries Ltd, part of Sansom & Company)
