91Èȱ¬

The work of the influential poet and artist David Jones goes on display in a new exhibition at from this Saturday.

David Jones (1895-1974), Capel-y-ffin, 1926-7. Pen, watercolour and bodycolour on paper. Reproduced with permission of the estate of David Jones

Jones was born in Brockley in Kent in 1895 to a Welsh father and English mother. During World War One, having originally been rejected by the Artists Rifles he joined the Royal Welch Fusiliers. Jones served in the battle for Mametz Wood on the Somme where he was wounded, and later on the Ypres salient where he suffered trench fever.

His wartime experience at the front, together with his religious faith and interest in Welsh mythology, landscape and language, all influenced his painting and poetry.

This new exhibition at National Museum Wales, Cardiff has been curated from a selection of the works held in the museum's collection.

The museum has the principal public collection of Jones' work but as he worked primarily in watercolour many of the pieces are not on permanent display, due to the fragile nature of watercolour paintings.

This exhibition focuses on his work in this medium while another, expected from March-July 2012, will showcase Jones' engravings, book illustrations and inscriptions.

To coincide with the exhibition the museum is holding two free lunchtime talks on the artist and his work.

The first, An Introduction to the artist and the exhibition, will be held on Friday 18 November at 1pm and will be hosted by Dr Anne Price-Owen from Swansea Metropolitan University. Dr Price-Owen is the director of the The David Jones Society and she has written widely on Jones, and recently completed a film on his early life.

Watch a clip taken from the recent 91Èȱ¬ Cymru Wales programme Framing Wales, in which Dr Price-Owen speaks to Kim Howells about Jones and Capel-y-ffin, where he lived with the controversial sculptor/typeface designer Eric Gill and his family.

The second talk will be given by Oliver Fairclough, the museum's Keeper of Art, on Friday 2 December at 1pm. Changing Attitudes: David Jones at the National Museum, 1932-2000, will explore the artist's work and examine why the first of his works to enter the museum's collection were grudgingly accepted gifts.

David Jones (1985-1974): Paintings and Watercolours will be on show from 5 November 2011 to 4 March 2012.

David Jones (1895-1974), Mehefin, 1949. Watercolour, bodycolour and pencil on paper. Image reproduced with permission of the estate of David Jones.