Diwylliant Gweledol Cymru: Delweddu’r Genedl (CD-ROM)

In the second CD-ROM in the Visual Culture of Wales series is found the most comprehensive survey ever published on the visual culture of Wales. Spanning the period from the 16th century to the 1960s, it covers painting, print-making, photography and film.

• Over 1,500 high quality images – more than twice the number of images in the book
• Interviews raising questions concerning the visual traditions of the past and their place in present-day Wales, together with the artists’ views, and those of professional workers and teachers in the arts
• Over 100 biographies of artists who have worked in Wales
• Maps, bibliography, glossary, chronology, archive film, music and sound

The three CD-ROMs in the series will be an indispensible companion for anyone who is interested in the visual heritage of Wales over the past 500 years.  

Minimum specification: Windows ™ 95/98, Pentium 166, 64Mb RAM, 12x CD-ROM, mouse, 16-bit VGA colour (at least), sound card with loudspeakers or headphones, QuickTime™ 3 or 4 (available on the CD-ROM); PowerMac ™ 7.6.1 or later, other requirements as above. (On a fast machine the program can be run directly from the CD-ROM; on a less powerful system 90Mb of free space will be required on the hard disc.)

The CD-ROM contains the whole text of the printed book with all the images, and offers the user the opportunity to enlarge the images and to view them in different contexts.

The Visual Journeys contain much new illustrative material, with sections divided into Practice, Patronage and Ideas. These sections contain further views of items already included, as well as new images and objects, many of which have not been previously published.

A number of interviews examine a variety of perspectives on art history. Further interviews in the Time Galleries explore issues such as the conservation of paintings, the impact of the contemporary art market, and the continuing use of Welsh visual traditions by contemporary artists.

Some Comments

imaging the Nation’/‘Delweddu’r Genedl’ won the Besterman/McColvin Medal for an outstanding work of reference, Electronic Category, at the CILIP (Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals) Awards, 1 November 2002.

‘I have rarely if ever come across a CD-ROM that exploits the ability of the format so well, nor found a CD-ROM publication so attractively, indeed beautifully, designed, nor one that fills an important but underexploited gap in knowledge so effectively and authoritatively.’

Anthony Hugh Thompson, Chair of the CILIP Reference Awards Electronic Media Committee (from a forthcoming review)

‘Roedd yna amser pan oedd pawb yn cael llaeth am ddim yn yr ysgol, sudd oren a cod liver oil er ein lles corfforol. Hwyrach y dylai’r Cynulliad Cenedlaethol sicrhau – er lles ein hiechyd diwylliannol – fod pob cartre’ yng Nghymru yn cael copi o’r CD-Rom eithriadol hwn am ddim, a’r disgiau fydd yn dilyn.’

Ozi Rhys Osmond, Golwg, 10 Hydref 2002