Introduction

Artist's Proof. Printed in an edition of 50, plus 5 artist's proofs. Copper plate still extant. The 'Rhondda Suite', a set of 7 etchings, was commissioned by Robert Erskine and published on 03/08/1960. The original set, including this print, were printed by John Brunsdon at the Etching Studio in Welwyn Garden City. The prints were published both as a portfolio set, numbered 1 to 10, or as individual prints, numbered 11 to 50, and were exhibitied at St George's Gallery Prints from 03/08/1960 to 03/09/1960.

The text in this print, written by George Chapman, was drawn by Kate Chapman backwards onto the plate using mirror writing. The text reads as follows"'Eleven miles of narrow valley from Trehafod to Treherbert. Seventeen villages joining together from beginning to end, the row upon row of terrace houses winding their way through the valley as the river and the trains. One hundred and fifty chapels and churches, ninety three pubs, fifty two 'Gents' but (for some reason perhaps best known to women) only nine 'Ladies'. One hundred and six thousand human beings. Six thousand of them working bravely below with the rats and the mice in coal blackness. Above, throughout the night the street lamps are kept burning. The children chalk their games on the roads and on the walls. The young girls are smart, pretty and their boyfriends, with or without coal dust, handsome. The married couples are busy buying their T.V., bubble cars and contemporary wallpapers and the old people chatter and gossip without a trace of bitterness about the bad old days. Like the sacred cow in India, the sheep wander unmolested, nibbling the grass in the playgrounds and gardens, nosing into dustbins and holding up buses, lorries and cars as they aimlessly cross the roads. It is all a rich and wonderful stream of life, a valley of strength and courage, sometimes sad with tragedy, but always intensely alive. I love it all with a deep sense of gratitude (including the seventy five inches of rain) from the top, Treherbert, to the bottom, Trehafod."