Frank Brangwyn

Sir Frank William Brangwyn (1867 – 1956) was an Anglo-Welsh artist, painter, water colourist, engraver, illustrator and progressive designer.

Brangwyn was an artistic jack-of-all-trades. As well as paintings and drawings, he produced designs for stained glass, furniture, ceramics, table glassware, buildings and interiors, was a lithographer and woodcutter and was a book illustrator. It has been estimated that during his lifetime Brangwyn produced over 12,000 works. His mural commissions would cover over 22,000 sq ft (2,000 m²) of canvas, he painted over 1,000 oils, over 660 mixed media works (watercolours, gouache), over 500 etchings, about 400 wood engravings and woodcuts, 280 lithographs, 40 architectural and interior designs, 230 designs for items of furniture and 20 stained glass panels and windows.

Brangwyn received some artistic training, probably from his father, and later from Arthur Heygate Mackmurdo and in the workshops of William Morris, but he was largely an autodidact without a formal artistic education. When, at the age of seventeen, one of his paintings was accepted at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, he was strengthened in his conviction to become an artist. Initially he painted traditional subjects about the sea and life on the seas. His 1890 canvas, Funeral At Sea won a medal of the third class at the 1891 Paris Salon. The murals for which Brangwyn was famous, and during his lifetime he was very famous indeed, were brightly coloured and crowded with details of plants and animals, although they became flatter and less flamboyant later in his life.

This is part 2 of a 13-part series on the works of Sir Frank William Brangwyn. For earlier works, see part 1 also.

1896 The Arabian Nights published by Gibbings & Co., London.
36 grisaille oil illustrations by Brangwyn:

Front Cover

Title Page

Story of Abon-Hassan the Wag
"He found himself upon the royal couch."

Story of the City of Brass
"They ceased not to ascend by that ladder."

Story of Abdallah
"Abdalla of the sea sat in the water, near the shore."

Story of Ansal-Wajooodaud, Rose-in-Bloom
"The daughter of a Visier sat at a lattice window."

Story of Beder Basim
"Whereupon it became eared corn,"

Story of Mahomed Ali
"He set his boat afloat with them."

Story of Marouf
"A cobbler who mended old shoes."

Story of the Merchant
"Sheherazade telling the stories."

c1901-1909 Skinners Hall:

In 1901 the Court of the Skinners’ Company decided to put aside some money for decorating the Banqueting Hall. A past Master, Thomas Lane Devitt, recommended the artist Frank Brangwyn whom he had already sponsored to paint a mural for the Royal Exchange.

Brangwyn was very popular in his day and received honours from around the world, but his work was rather neglected after his death. There is a revival of interest in this superb draughtsman and the Company is lucky that members in the past had the foresight to commission such a magnificent series of murals.

Brangwyn painted a series of panels typical of his murals – busy and decorative like hanging draperies. Eleven panels illustrate Skinners' history, the 'Harmony' panel was painted for the Minstrels' Gallery, and the ‘Charity’ and ‘Education’ panels were painted nearly 30 years later. A self-portrait of the artist as a schoolteacher appears in 'Education', and Donald Sinden, the actor and Brangwyn's neighbour when a boy, modelled as a pupil.

Skinners Hall

c1901 Courtier, study for Panel 2, Skinners
black and white chalk on brown paper 33 x 25.5 cm

c1901 Skinners Hall mural study
mixed media 48.2 x 53.3 cm

c1901 The Opening of the Strife between the Skinners and the Merchant Taylors, A.D. 1484
(study for larger work)
oil on canvas 51.4 x 61.6 cm

1903 Harmony

1904 Departure of Sir James Lancaster

1908 Reception of General Monk, 1660

c1909 Study for Harmony
black chalk and wash with red chalk highlights on paper 53.3 x 43 cm

c1909 Study for Harmony, Skinners
charcoal and red chalk 36.5 x 27 cm

* * * * *

1896 The Goatherd
transfer lithograph on cream wove paper 18.5 x 19 cm

1896 The Scoffers
oil on canvas 233.4 x 228.6 cm
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

1896c An Old Peasant, Assisi
oil on wood panel 43 x 32 cm
William Morris Gallery, London

1896c Pelago, Italy
tempera on paper 106.5 x 117 cm
Ferens Art Gallery, Kingston upon Hull, UK

1896c The Merchant Uncovered Her Face
(an illustration for 'The Story of Gulnare of the Sea')
tempera and watercolour on millboard 57.8 x 38.2 cm
Victoria & Albert MUseum, London

1897 Amateur Surgery: An Incident on Board a Trading Vessel
engraving in The Graphic illustrated newspaper

1897 The Dogana, Venice
oil on canvas 126 x 123 cm
William Morris Gallery, London

1897 Venice
oil on canvas 76.2 x 101.6 cm
Victoria and Albert Museum, London

1898 "Fire at Sea: The Rush for the Boats"
from The Graphic illustrated newspaper

1898 L'Art Nouveau, Grafton Galleries
lithograph 75.6 x 49.5 cm
Museum of Modern Art, New York

1900 study for "Charity"
from The Studio magazine 28 x 19 cm

1900 Charity
oil on canvas 147.3 x 160 cm
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa

1900 Drawer Handle (one of a pair)
electroplated silver on copper, pierced and embossed
Victoria & Albert Museum, London

1900 The Goatherd
oil on canvas 74 x 99 cm
William Morris Gallery, London

c1900 Assisi Beggar
lithograph 18 x 17 cm

c1900 Gypsy Forest
oil on canvas 69.9 x 90.8 cm
Victoria Art Gallery, Bath, Somerset, UK

1900c Sir Alfred Edward East
oil on canvas 102.2 x 128.3 cm
National Portrait Gallery, London

1900c The Studio Almanac for the year 1901
colour lithograph poster
Victoria & Albert MUseum, London

1900c Venice: St Mark's from the Lagoon
oil on canvas 76.2 x 107 cm
National Museum Wales, Cardiff

1901 Old Kew Bridge, London
oil on canvas 76.2 x 101.6 cm
Leeds Art Gallery, UK

before 1902 Church of Santa Chiara del Carmire at Taormina (Sicily)
etching and drypoint 25.4 x 20.2 cm (plate)
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA

1902 Turnips
oil on canvas 94 x 96 cm
William Morris Gallery, London

c1902 Group Listening to Musicians
oil on wood panel 26.2 x 41.7 cm
William Morris Gallery, London

1902c Leeks
oil on canvas 63.4 x 63.4 cm
Leeds Art Gallery, Yorkshire, UK

c1902 Presentation sketch for "The Departure of Sir James Lancaster for the East Indies"
oil on canvas 35.5 x 43.1 cm

1903 A Gate, Assisi
zinc etching 45.3 x 37.5 cm

1903 A Road in Picardy
etching with plate-tone 30.3 x 37.6 cm (plate)
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia

1903-1905 The Venture published by John Baillie-Pear Tree Press
Front Cover

1903-1905 The Venture published by John Baillie-Pear Tree Press
Back Cover

1903-1905 The Venture published by John Baillie-Pear Tree Press
Title Page

1903-1905 The Venture published by John Baillie-Pear Tree Press

1903 Beggar of Assisi
etching and aquatint 25.4 x 21.7 cm (plate)
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA

1903 The Mine
lithograph 30 x 22.2 cm (plate)
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA

1903 The Old Tree, Hammersmith
zinc etching n wove paper 12.7 x 10.2 cm

1903 The Tree, Hammersmith
zinc etching

1903 Trees and Factory, Hammersmith
etching and drypoint with plate-tone printed in brown ink
33 x 40.5 cm (plate)
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia

1904 Brentford Bridge
etching on wove paper 33.2 x 40 cm (plate)
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio

1904 Bridge-Builders
zinc etching 50 x 61.5 cm

1904 Building the Victoria and Albert Museum
etching, plate-tone and spit-biting 49.8 x 61 cm (plate)
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia