Salem

Vosper painted 'Salem' while visiting Llanbedr, near Harlech, North Wales in 1908, possibly during one of his many cycling tours. It shows the interior of the Baptist chapel, Salem Cefncymerau, built in 1850. The church-goers are in quiet contemplation before the service begins. The clock shows it is just before 10 o'clock. The elderly woman, arriving just in time for the service, walks towards her pew. The artist asked people from the local area to sit for him, paying them sixpence per hour. Thirty years later, when describing the process of painting this picture, the artist was a little vague on the identity of his models but noted that "the one thing I do remember is how modest and eager to help me everyone was, and how interested they were in the picture's progress". The figures have been identified as (from left to right) Robert Williams (carpenter), Laura Williams (shopkeeper), Sian Owen, William Sion, Leusa Jones who stood as a dummy of Sian Owen when the artist was making lengthy studies of the paisley shawl, six-year old Evan Edward Lloyd, Mary Rowlands and Owen Sion. Vosper made mostly individual studies of these characters. The women all wear traditional Welsh dress, with the distinctive steeple hats. In fact, all these women are modelled in the same steeple and cap which belonged to the mother of Mary Rowlands. The shawl, which Vosper found it difficult to paint accurately, was borrowed from Mrs Williams of the Vicarage, Harlech. The shawl has been the focus of much discussion. It has been suggested that an image of the devil's face is hidden among its folds and pattern (to the right as we look at the picture). Indeed, some descriptions of this imagery go into considerable detail. However, it is clear that the artist never intended his work to have some secret message about the omnipresence of evil. Understandable frustration about this 'myth' surfaces in Vosper's letter to the curator of the Lady Lever Art Gallery in 1940: "There has been quite a lot of correspondence from time to time in Welsh papers, some accusing me of having put the devil in the picture; in fact the editor of Cymro wrote and asked if this was deliberate on my part, of course it was not!". The picture was purchased by Lever in 1909 to use as a promotional print for Sunlight Soap. The image had a mass circulation, which has no doubt contributed to its iconic status. His son's recollections suggest that Vosper was unaware that his work was to be used in this way. The popularity of the picture was perpetuated by further reproductions. In 1937 Ifan ab Owen Edwards purchased large numbers of prints to distribute through Urdd Gobaith Cymru - the Welsh League of Youth. 'Salem' was also reproduced as the cover of the Cymru calendar in 1950, 1956 and 1957. However, the picture's huge popularity is also bound to feelings of nationality and historicism. For many Welsh people it has become a symbol of Welshness. In a single image Vosper has represented pre-historical 'old Wales', faith and the family. The popularity of the work is such that it has even been immortalised in poetry. There is a second, half-size version of this subject on loan to the National Museum of Wales and a preparatory drawing for the figure of Sian Owen in Cyfartha Castle Museum and Art Gallery. A related work, 'Market Day in Old Wales', also in the National Museum of Wales and features the same principal sitter, Sian Owen.