Dylan Thomas - Death Mask - Cardiff, Wales.
N 51° 29.131 W 003° 10.644
30U E 487682 N 5703833
The bust was cast from Dylan Thomas's death mask by American artist and close friend of Dylan & Caitlin, David Slivka. Now located on permanent display in the National Museum of Wales.
Waymark Code: WMKFG3
Location: South Wales, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 04/07/2014
Views: 3
On Nov. 11, 1953, David Slivka, a well-known sculptor, created a Death Mask to preserve Thomas’s likeness for posterity. From the Dylan Thomas mask, he later cast five bronze busts.
"Two of Mr. Slivka’s busts of Thomas are in the United States, at the Unterberg Poetry Center of the 92nd Street Y in New York and at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. Three are in Wales: at the National Museum of Wales and the headquarters of BBC Wales, both in Cardiff, and at the Dylan Thomas Center in Swansea, the poet’s hometown." Text Source: (
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"Thomas died on November 9, 1953 while on a lecture tour of America. He had been drinking heavily the night he died in the White Horse pub in Greenwich Village, New York. Later that evening he returned to his hotel room in great pain and summonsed a doctor. Unfortunately the doctor (Dr Feltenstein) administered an abnormally large dose of morphine sulphate and Thomas slipped into a coma. Thomas' last words were: "I've had 18 straight whiskies......I think that's the record." He was 39 years old. His body was brought back to Laugharne.
Thomas and Caitlin lived at The Boathouse in Laugharne in Wales from 1949 onwards after it was purchased for them by Margaret Taylor (the wife of the historian A.J.P. Taylor). However, Thomas used to write in a wooden garage which stood on the cliff edge a short distance from the house. The garage, which is still there today, overlooks the beautiful Taf estuary." Text Source: (
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