Keith Gardner RCA - Cemaes Harbour, Anglesey - Oil on Board

Keith James Gardner RCA (1933-2025) - Cemaes Harbour, Anglesey

An original oil on board by Keith James Gardner RCA depicting Cemaes Harbour on the northern coast of Anglesey. Gardner looks across the harbour wall and its small group of moored boats towards the houses and rocky shoreline of Cemaes Bay, with open blue water visible beyond.

The harbour forms a strong horizontal element across the centre of the composition. Small fishing and leisure boats sit within the sheltered water below, their white, red and yellow details standing out sharply against Gardner's rich blues. Reflections are suggested with loose vertical strokes rather than laboriously described, giving the foreground water considerable movement.

Across the harbour, Gardner reduces the village to compact blocks of white, grey, ochre and green. The coastline then falls away towards the open sea at the right, opening the composition and emphasising Cemaes's position on the Anglesey coast.

The broad handling and economical description are characteristic of Gardner's landscape painting. Rather than concentrating on architectural detail, he captures the essential arrangement of harbour, boats, village, sea and sky through colour and quickly handled paint. The result has the immediacy of direct observation for which his smaller coastal oils are particularly known.

Details

Artist: Keith James Gardner RCA (1933-2025)
Title: Cemaes Harbour, Anglesey
Medium: Oil
Support: Board
Signature: Signed Keith Gardner RCA verso
Inscription: Titled “Cemaes Harbour, Anglesey” verso
Artwork: 30 × 40.5 cm (11.8 × 15.9 in)
Frame: 35 × 45 cm (13.8 × 17.7 in)
Condition: The artwork and frame are both in excellent condition.

About the Artist

Keith James Gardner RCA (1933-2025) was born in Liverpool and studied at Liverpool Art School and the Laird School of Art in Birkenhead. His career became particularly associated with Liverpool, the Wirral and North Wales, areas which also supplied much of the subject matter for his paintings.

Gardner was elected to the Royal Cambrian Academy in 1977. He worked as a full-time painter between 1975 and 1985 and subsequently spent thirteen years at the Williamson Art Gallery in Birkenhead.

The Royal Cambrian Academy recorded Gardner as specialising in small oil panels painted on the spot around North Wales and the Wirral. His subjects encompass coastal landscapes, harbours, beaches, boats, villages, townscapes and the working environments of Merseyside.

His documented Royal Cambrian Academy exhibits demonstrate the consistency of those interests. In 1977 his exhibited works included Liverpool Waterfront and Farm near Pentre Foelas. In 1978 he showed Boat Re-Building, Birkenhead, while his 1981 exhibits included Rhyd-Ddu, Caernarfon Castle, Evening and Central Pier & Beach, Blackpool. The Royal Cambrian Academy's 1989 Summer Exhibition included Walking in the Park and Boats, Heswall, April Afternoon. In 2019 the Academy mounted a dedicated retrospective exhibition of Gardner's work at its Conwy gallery.

Cemaes Harbour & Anglesey

Cemaes is a historic coastal village on the north coast of Anglesey. Its sheltered natural bay developed as a harbour and the combination of stone harbour walls, small boats, rocky coastline and village buildings has long provided a distinctive North Wales coastal subject.

For Gardner, Cemaes belongs directly to the North Wales landscape that occupied him throughout his career. The compact harbour allows him to combine several of his recurring interests within a single composition: boats and water in the foreground, vernacular buildings and coastline beyond, and the changing light of the Welsh coast.