Shani Rhys-James MBE

About Shani Rhys-James MBE

Shani Rhys James is arguably the most exciting and successful Welsh painter of her generation. Her considerable reputation, both in Wales and beyond, continues to grow apace. William Packer, art critic of the Financial Times, has spoken of her as a painter of remarkable power whose paintings are as convincing as anything currently being produced in Britain.

Winner of numerous prizes including The Hunting Prize, The National Portrait Award, The Mostyn Open, and the Gold Medal at the Eisteddfod, Shani won the 2003 £30,000 Jerwood Prize, the UK’s most prestigious and valuable painting prize. She was awarded Welsh Woman in Culture 2003 and an MBE in 2006.

Her body of collectors, both private and public, continues to expand in Britain and especially abroad, with sales to important private collections in the U.S.A., Belgium, France, Germany, New Zealand, Australia and Hong Kong. Recent public collection purchases include two major works to Glasgow Gallery of Modern Art and others to the Arts Council of England, the Glynn Vivian Gallery in Swansea, the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff, Birmingham Museum and Gallery and Usher Gallery, Lincoln.

Chicken Coop II
1998
Oil on canvas, 61 x 91 cm
Donated by the artist, 2004

The Collector
1994
Oil on canvas
Donated by Elizabeth & John Gibbs 2005