 |
| 1936 Sir Frank Brangwyn by Bassano Ltd. © National Portrait Gallery, London |
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 11 of a 13-part series on the works of Sir Frank William Brangwyn.
For earlier works see parts 1 - 10 also.
 |
| before 1932 Commerce oil on canvas 55.8 x 48.2 cm Williamson Art Gallery & Museum, Oxton, Wirral, UK |
 |
| before 1932 Yellow Dahlias oil on canvas 81 x 104.4 cm Southampton City Art Gallery. UK |
 |
| c1932 Red Dahlias oil on canvas 85.2 x 130.6 cm William Morris Gallery, London |
 |
| c1932 Scotland by East Coast Route colour lithograph poster |
 |
| 1933 A Fitzgerald Medley published by Methuen & Co. Ltd., London cover (and frontispiece) by Brangwyn |
 |
| 1933 The Ice Cream Stall colour lithograph published in The London Studio April 1933 15.2 x 15.2 cm |
 |
| 1934 Durham by LNER colour lithograph poster printed by The Avenue Press, London 102 x 127 cm |
 |
| 1934 KIngdom Come by Hugh Redwood published by Hodder & Stoughton, London cover by Brangwyn |
 |
| before 1935 Man with a Lobster oil on canvas 52 x 68 cm William Morris Gallery, London |
 |
| before 1935 Road near Étaples oil on canvasboard 43 x 53 cm William Morris Gallery, London |
 |
| 1935 Head of Christ II woodcut 12 cm diameter |
1935-36 The Printed Word
In 1935 Brangwyn was commissioned by Lord Southwood (who began life as J.S. Elias, a newspaper boy) to create a lunette decoration (about 180 sq ft) for the main entrance hall of Odham Press, Long Acre, London. Brangwyn’s design with its exotic vegetation, figures bearing baskets of fruit, wild birds and animals is reminiscent of his Empire Panels (1925-32), though additionally figures can be seen reading newspapers and books.
The building was demolished in 1973, but the lunette was saved and sold in auction in 1981
The building was demolished in 1973, but the lunette was saved and sold in auction in 1981
 |
| 1935-36 The Printed Word Makes the People of the World One mural for the entrance hall of Odham Press, London oil on tempera canvas washed-in with tempera 396.2 x 548.6 cm |
 |
| c1935 West Indian Market oil on canvas 61 x 74.5 cm William Morris Gallery, London |
 |
| 1936 High Level Bridge, Newcastle lithograph black-brown ink on wove paper 19.7 x 15 cm (plate) |
 |
| c1936 Spain, General Relief Fund for Women & Children of Spain lithograph 29.5 x 22.8 cm |
 |
| before 1937 Gargoyle woodcut on blue paper 7.7 x 3.6 cm |
 |
| before 1937 Rome oil on panel 44 x 51 cm The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, Stoke on Trent, UK |
 |
| before 1937 Tramp with Dogs woodcut |
 |
| c1937 Ancona, Italy oil on canvas 126.4 x 127 cm Brighton and Hove Museums and Art Galleries, Sussex, UK |
 |
| before 1938 Jews in Dispute drypoint 14.4 x 15.4 cm (plate) National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia |
 |
| 1938 The Last Supper oil on cardboard 24.2 x 49.9 cm William Morris Gallery, London |
 |
| before 1939 A Kentish Mill oil on board 62.2 x 74.9 cm Dundee Art Galleries and Museums Collection, UK |
 |
| before 1939 Industry (study for the panels designed for the SS 'Queen Mary') oil on board 41.9 x 52.1 cm Dundee Art Galleries and Museums Collection, Scotland, UK |
 |
| before 1939 Nude Figures with Jars oil on board 45.7 x 55.8 cm Dundee Art Galleries and Museums Collection, UK |
 |
| before 1939 Ruined Mill, Toledo oil on board 63.5 x 76.2 cm Dundee Art Galleries and Museums Collection, UK |
 |
| before 1939 The Market Place, Algiers oil on canvas 63.5 x 76.2 cm Dundee Art Galleries and Museums Collection, UK |
 |
| before 1939 The Market Place, Hesdin oil on board 44.5 x 54.6 cm Dundee Art Galleries and Museums Collection, UK |
 |
| before 1939 The Slums of Venice oil on board 53.3 x 66.7 cm Dundee Art Galleries and Museums Collection, UK |
 |
| before 1939 Venetian Traders oil on board 64.8 x 78.1 cm Dundee Art Galleries and Museums Collection, Scotland, UK |
1934-38 Stations of the Cross
Chapel of Campion Hall, Oxford
Brangwyn was brought up in the Roman Catholic faith, his father having converted in about 1858, but he did not attend church regularly and his knowledge of the Bible was minimal. He created a number of Stations of the Cross, the first being for Father Thomas Ryan's Leper Mission in Pretoria (1920-1922), now belonging to the Archdiocese of Pretoria.
In 1920 he was also commissioned to paint the Stations for Arras Cathedral. This series was to be in oils and reproductions would be distributed to other churches in the area in memory of the devastation caused by the war. Unfortunately this series was unfinished, probably due to the deaths in 1924 of Lucy Brangwyn and his friend Thoephile Steinlen who was responsible for Brangwyn gaining the commission.
A woodcut series was completed between 1930 and 1934 with the help of William de Belleroche. In 1934 Brangwyn started a lithograph series, completed in 1935. Two editions were printed on sycamore - these are in the Monastery of St Andre, Zevenkerken and the Jesuit College, Campion Hall, Oxford. The lithograph series was also reproduced as The Way of the Cross. An Interpretation by Frank Brangwyn RA, with a commentary by G K Chesterton, who termed Brangwyn 'one of the most masculine of modern men of genius'.
In 1946 Brangwyn sent drawings for Stations of the Cross to St Joseph's church, Stokesley which were interpreted by the Italian prisoners of war (the church and contents was later destroyed by fire). A further set of stations was painted in oil on oak panels for the Marist College, Middlesbrough between 1937 and 1938.
 |
| Station 1. Jesus is Condemned to Death oil over lithograph laid on board 85 x 90.5 cm |
 |
| Station 1. Jesus is Condemned to Death study |
 |
| Station 2. Jesus Carries His Cross 1935 lithograph 76 x 82 cm |
 |
| Station 2. Jesus is Made to Bear the Cross oil over lithograph laid on board 85 x 90.5 cm |
 |
| Station 3. Jesus Falls for the First Time 1934 woodcut 42.8 x 46.5 cm |
 |
| Station 3. Jesus Falls for the First Time oil over lithograph laid on board 85 x 90.5 cm |
 |
| Station 3. Jesus Falls for the First Time published 1936 by Hodder & Staughton 19.5 x 20.5 cm |
 |
| Station 4. Jesus Meets His Afflicted Mother oil over lithograph laid on board 85 x 90.5 cm |
 |
| Station 4. Jesus Meets His Afflicted Mother 1935 lithograph 76 x 82 cm |
 |
| Station 5. The Cross is Laid on Simon of Cyrene oil over lithograph laid on board 85 x 90.5 cm |
 |
| Station 5. The Cross is Laid Upon Simon of Cyrene 1935 lithograph 76 x 82 cm |
 |
| Station 6. Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus 1935 lithograph 76 x 82 cm |
 |
| Station 6. Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus oil over lithograph laid on board 85 x 90.5 cm |
 |
| Station 7. Jesus Falls the Second Time oil over lithograph laid on board 85 x 90.5 cm |
 |
| Station 7. Jesus Falls the Second Time study |
 |
| Station 8. c1943 Jesus Meets the Women of Jerusalem chalk design for the 8th Station of the Cross 96.5 x 106.7 cm (framed) |
 |
| Station 8. Jesus Meets the Women of Jerusalem oil over lithograph laid on board 85 x 90.5 cm |
 |
| Station 8. Jesus Meets the Women of Jerusalem study |
 |
| Station 9. Jesus Falls for the Third Time oil over lithograph laid on board 85 x 90.5 cm |
 |
| Station 9. Jesus Falls for the Third Time study black and red chalk 33.6 x 32.7 cm |
 |
| Station 9. Jesus Falls for the Third Time study black chalk on brown paper with white highlights 43 x 50.8 cm |
 |
| Station 9. Jesus Falls the Third Time study |
 |
| Station 10. Jesus is Stripped of his Clothes from The Way of the Cross oil over lithograph laid on board 85 x 90.5 cm |
 |
| Station 10. Jesus is Stripped of his Clothes from The Way of the Cross pencil on tracing paper Sketch for the lithographic plate |
 |
| Station 10. Jesus is Stripped of his Clothes from The Way of the Cross published 1936 by Hodder & Staughton 19.5 x 20.5 cm |
 |
| Station 11. Jesus is Nailed to the Cross oil over lithograph laid on board 85 x 90.5 cm |
 |
| Station 11. Jesus is Nailed to the Cross study |
 |
| Station 12. Jesus Dies Upon the Cross 1935 lithograph 76 x 82 cm |
 |
| Station 12. Jesus Dies Upon the Cross oil over lithograph laid on board 85 x 90.5 cm |
 |
| Station 13. Jesus is Taken Down from the Cross 1935 lithograph 76 x 82 cm |
 |
| Station 13. Jesus is Taken Down from the Cross oil over lithograph laid on board 85 x 90.5 cm |
 |
| Station 14. Jesus is Placed in the Sepulchre 1935 lithograph 76 x 82 cm |
 |
| Station 14. Jesus is Placed in the Sepulchre oil over lithograph laid on board 85 x 90.5 cm |