Charles Burton, artist, in front of two of his works. Penarth, South Wales.

Charles was born in the pre-war Rhondda Valley, South Wales, in 1929.

By his early twenties his work was being bought by public institutions and important private collectors, and in 1954 aged only 24, he won the Gold Medal for Fine Art at the National Eisteddfod.

After post-graduate studies at the Royal College of Art, he became a teacher. He was Head of Painting at Liverpool College of Art and then, from 1970 to his retirement, Head of Art and Design at the Polytechnic of Wales.

The subjects of his sublime work include landscapes, still lives, interiors and figures, making him one of the major figures in art in Wales for six decades.