Salem painting celebrates centenary
IT is one of Wales' most iconic paintings and became revered as a portrait of Welsh piety despite its diabolical connections.
IT is one of Wales' most iconic paintings and became revered as a portrait of Welsh piety despite its diabolical connections.
Featuring an old woman arriving for worship at a small Baptist chapel in North Wales wearing traditional dress and clutching a Bible, it has been a regular sight in many Welsh homes for generations.
Its location, the Salem Baptist chapel in Cefncymerau, near Harlech, built in 1850, is among the most famous places of worship in Wales as a result.
This year, Sidney Curnow Vosper's Salem – in which the devil is said to peer out from the shawl of the painting's main subject – is 100 years old. Its story is to be explored in an S4C programme to be aired next week.
The painting's central character is Siân Owen, who is making her way towards her family pew. The clock on the wall behind her and the bowed heads of those around her suggest she is late and the customary silence before worship has already begun.
Its contrasting colours, sombre nature and the way it is said to have captured Welsh life around the turn of the 20th century have led to it being described as, as much a symbol of Wales as Constable's Hay Wain is of England.
But it is the haunting detail of the devil in the shawl that is perhaps its greatest talking point. It has been suggested that the shawl's elaborate brightness is a comment by Vosper on the sin of vanity.
In the folds on the left arm, many people believe the paisley pattern forms the devil's horn, the folds shape his eye, nose and mouth while the shawl's trim is his beard.
"Salem's subjects demand attention," said Ffion Jon Williams, producer of Y Sioe Gelf.
"Every one of us will have seen it at some point in our lives and tried to see the devil in Siân Owen's shawl."
Award-winning artist Carwyn Evans has now been commissioned with creating a painting that reflects his own reaction to Salem.
His starting point was Siân Owen's epitaph, which reads: "I am greatly troubled. Enliven me, O Lord, according to your Word."
Tradition has it that the epitaph is the result of her being scorned following the painting's publication but Mr Evans said this might not be the case.
"I understand she lost members of her family in the First World War and I think the epitaph may be a reference to that," he said.
"I felt like I'd been sucked into Siân's story, into the hype. Now I hope that the finished work will be more of a tribute to her than anything else."
Despite its critical acclaim, however, the popularity of Salem, which is now on display at Liverpool's Lady Lever Art Gallery, is attributable more to a marketing ploy than its critical merit.
Lord Leverhulme bought the original in 1909 for £105 and it first became popular when reproductions were offered to people buying Lever Brothers' soap.
"I remember Salem hanging on the wall in my Aunt Nel's house in Llanfairfechan," said Welsh singer and composer Endaf Emlyn, whose second album is called Salem.
"I knew the legend of the devil in the shawl which was the subject of many serious discussions."
Y Sioe Gelf: Salem is on S4C on Sunday, June 15 at 8.30pm.
Modelled from life
NEARLY all the characters in the Salem painting were modelled from life, according to the Lady Lever Art Gallery in Liverpool, where it is now on display.
Siân Owen was born in Maes-y-Garnedd in 1837, an isolated farmstead, and later moved to Ffordd Groes, Llanfair, where she died at the age of 90.
Beneath the clock is Robert Williams, deacon of Salem. Beside him, but not in full view, is Laura Williams of Tyn-y-Buarth, Llanfair. With his back against the wall is Owen Jones, of Carreg Coch.
The small boy is Evan Edward Lloyd and by his side is Mary Rowland. On the far right, with his head bowed, is William Jones, Owen's brother.
Vosper paid them each sixpence an hour for sitting.
Siân Owen's famous shawl was borrowed from a Mrs Williams, who lived at Harlech Vicarage.
Vosper had some difficulty in painting the shawl, as Siân Owen had a habit of twitching suddenly. In the end he pinned it to an artist's dummy nicknamed Leisa Jones.
The shawl Siân Owen wore to church is now looked after by the church's secretary, Catherine Richards.
And though the characters in the painting are real, they are dressed in a style preceding 1908 when Salem was painted.
Featuring an old woman arriving for worship at a small Baptist chapel in North Wales wearing traditional dress and clutching a Bible, it has been a regular sight in many Welsh homes for generations.
Its location, the Salem Baptist chapel in Cefncymerau, near Harlech, built in 1850, is among the most famous places of worship in Wales as a result.
This year, Sidney Curnow Vosper's Salem – in which the devil is said to peer out from the shawl of the painting's main subject – is 100 years old. Its story is to be explored in an S4C programme to be aired next week.
The painting's central character is Siân Owen, who is making her way towards her family pew. The clock on the wall behind her and the bowed heads of those around her suggest she is late and the customary silence before worship has already begun.
Its contrasting colours, sombre nature and the way it is said to have captured Welsh life around the turn of the 20th century have led to it being described as, as much a symbol of Wales as Constable's Hay Wain is of England.
But it is the haunting detail of the devil in the shawl that is perhaps its greatest talking point. It has been suggested that the shawl's elaborate brightness is a comment by Vosper on the sin of vanity.
In the folds on the left arm, many people believe the paisley pattern forms the devil's horn, the folds shape his eye, nose and mouth while the shawl's trim is his beard.
"Salem's subjects demand attention," said Ffion Jon Williams, producer of Y Sioe Gelf.
"Every one of us will have seen it at some point in our lives and tried to see the devil in Siân Owen's shawl."
Award-winning artist Carwyn Evans has now been commissioned with creating a painting that reflects his own reaction to Salem.
His starting point was Siân Owen's epitaph, which reads: "I am greatly troubled. Enliven me, O Lord, according to your Word."
Tradition has it that the epitaph is the result of her being scorned following the painting's publication but Mr Evans said this might not be the case.
"I understand she lost members of her family in the First World War and I think the epitaph may be a reference to that," he said.
"I felt like I'd been sucked into Siân's story, into the hype. Now I hope that the finished work will be more of a tribute to her than anything else."
Despite its critical acclaim, however, the popularity of Salem, which is now on display at Liverpool's Lady Lever Art Gallery, is attributable more to a marketing ploy than its critical merit.
Lord Leverhulme bought the original in 1909 for £105 and it first became popular when reproductions were offered to people buying Lever Brothers' soap.
"I remember Salem hanging on the wall in my Aunt Nel's house in Llanfairfechan," said Welsh singer and composer Endaf Emlyn, whose second album is called Salem.
"I knew the legend of the devil in the shawl which was the subject of many serious discussions."
Y Sioe Gelf: Salem is on S4C on Sunday, June 15 at 8.30pm.
Modelled from life
NEARLY all the characters in the Salem painting were modelled from life, according to the Lady Lever Art Gallery in Liverpool, where it is now on display.
Siân Owen was born in Maes-y-Garnedd in 1837, an isolated farmstead, and later moved to Ffordd Groes, Llanfair, where she died at the age of 90.
Beneath the clock is Robert Williams, deacon of Salem. Beside him, but not in full view, is Laura Williams of Tyn-y-Buarth, Llanfair. With his back against the wall is Owen Jones, of Carreg Coch.
The small boy is Evan Edward Lloyd and by his side is Mary Rowland. On the far right, with his head bowed, is William Jones, Owen's brother.
Vosper paid them each sixpence an hour for sitting.
Siân Owen's famous shawl was borrowed from a Mrs Williams, who lived at Harlech Vicarage.
Vosper had some difficulty in painting the shawl, as Siân Owen had a habit of twitching suddenly. In the end he pinned it to an artist's dummy nicknamed Leisa Jones.
The shawl Siân Owen wore to church is now looked after by the church's secretary, Catherine Richards.
And though the characters in the painting are real, they are dressed in a style preceding 1908 when Salem was painted.
