GWENDA MORGAN

Gwenda Morgan (1908 – 1991) studied at Goldsmiths College and then at the Grosvenor School of Modern Art, under the wood engraver Iain MacNab. She exhibited at the Royal Academy, the Redfern Gallery, and the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers & Engravers (RE), of which she was a member. She was well known for her book and other illustrations, especially for the Golden Cockerel Press publications of 'Gray's Elegy' in 1946, and 'Grimms' Other Tales' in 1946.

Many of the scenes in her illustrations were based on landscapes and buildings in the Petworth area, and she cited the Sussex-born artist Eric Ravilious as one of the influences on her work.

Her prints are held in the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum, the British Museum, the Ashmolean Museum, and the Fitzwilliam Museum, among other UK and overseas museums.

Morgan was born in Petworth, West Sussex, and spent most of her life in the town. Despite examples of Morgan's engravings being held by most of the major museums, her work still remains relatively unknown, to both local residents and the wider UK. 

Gwenda Morgan's father was the proprietor of Austen's the ironmongers, a shop that still serves the town of Petworth on the Market Square. When the artist died in 1991, she made a significant bequest for the refurbishment and upkeep of the Leconfield Hall, Petworth's community hall. Nine of her engravings were reprinted from the original blocks to hang in the main auditorium, which is named the Gwenda Morgan Hall.