Ben Uri Research Unit

for the study and digital recording of the Jewish, Refugee and wide Immigrant contribution to British visual culture since 1900.


Frank Brangwyn artist

Artist-craftsman Frank Brangwyn was born to Anglo-Welsh parents in Bruges, Belgium on 13 May 1867 and moved to London as a child in 1874. He became an internationally renowned polymath during his lifetime, creating an estimated 12,000 works including murals, oils and watercolours, furniture, textiles, ceramics, stained glass and prints. In 1919 he was made both the first President of the Society of Graphic Art and a Royal Academician; in 1952 he became the first artist to be given a retrospective exhibition at the Royal Academy during his lifetime.

Born: 1867 Bruges, Belgium

Died: 1956 Ditchling, Sussex, England

Year of Migration to the UK: 1874

Other name/s: Sir Frank William Brangwyn, Frank Brangwyn RA


Biography

Artist-craftsman Frank Brangwyn was born to Anglo-Welsh parents in Bruges, Belgium on 13 May 1867. In 1874 after his father's commission by the Belgian Guild of St Thomas and St Luke to design a parish church had been completed, along with numerous other civic projects, Brangwyn and his family moved to London. Brangwyn attended Westminster City School but often played truant, preferring to spend time in his father's workshop or drawing at the South Kensington Museum (now the Victoria and Albert Museum). Through contacts made there, among them Arthur Heygate Mackmurdo, in 1882 he secured an apprenticeship with the renowned Arts & Crafts exponent, William Morris, for whom he worked first as a glazer before undertaking embroidery and wallpaper work. At the age of 17 one of Brangwyn's paintings was accepted by London's Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition, strengthening his conviction to become an artist. Brangwyn subsequently joined the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve before convincing the shipowner who had bought his Royal Academy picture to let him sail on a freighter to Istanbul. This trip provided Brangwyn with the material for several notable paintings. Whereas Funeral at Sea, which won a medal at the Paris Salon in 1891 was mostly composed in grey, The Golden Horn, Constantinople was much brighter and more colourful, marking an important change in Brangwyn's aesthetic. Although Brangwyn held his first one-man show in London in 1891, he spent most of 1890 and 1891 at sea, visiting Spain as well as returning to Istanbul and travelling to South Africa and Zanzibar. In 1892 he visited northern Spain with the Scottish artist Arthur Melville. He made many paintings and drawings, particularly in Spain, Egypt, Turkey, and Morocco, which he visited in 1893. His use of a brighter, more vibrant palette did not initially find critical favour, but helped establish his international reputation.

In 1901 Brangwyn was commissioned to produce a mural for the Great Hall of the Worshipful Company of Skinners in London (completed in 1909) and in 1904 he was elected an associate of the Royal Academy. In 1906 he painted a mural for the Royal Exchange. Two years later he completed a glass mosaic for the apse of St Aidan’s Church in Leeds and in 1912 he was commissioned to paint a mural for the chapel of Christ’s Hospital School in Sussex. The previous year Brangwyn's etching, Cannon Street Station, was presented by the founder of the Yorkshire Symphony Orchestra, R. Noel Middleton, to Leeds Art Gallery. During the First World War, although not an official war artist, Brangwyn produced over 80 propaganda posters, the majority of the designs which he donated to charities such as the Red Cross and the Royal National Institute for the Blind. He produced six lithographs under the series title Making Sailors and another entitled The Freedom of the Seas for the Ministry of Information's Britain's Efforts and Ideals portfolio of images, which were exhibited in Britain and abroad and which were also sold as prints to raise money for the war effort. Between 1913 and 1918 he served as the President of the Royal Society of British Artists (RBA) and in 1919 he was elected an Academician (RA) and became the first President of the Society of Graphic Art.

Brangwyn's public successes led to a commission in 1924 for a pair of large canvases for the House of Lords commemorating those who had fallen during the war. His initial designs, produced over two years, were deemed too traumatic and he was asked to provide a more joyful alternative, celebrating the vibrancy of the British colonies. However, the finished works (16 large canvases) were rejected on account of their overly flamboyant colour and liveliness. They were instead purchased by Swansea Council where they still hang in the city's Guildhall. From 1925 to 1926 Brangwyn was President of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists and in 1932 he received the Royal Society of Artists’ Albert Medal. However, the Lords’ rejection deeply affected him and he entered a period of depression. His outlook became increasingly negative and in the 1930s he began disposing of his possessions, donating vast numbers of works to museums, including the British Museum and the William Morris Gallery. He focussed increasingly on religious subjects, also producing some furniture and ceramic designs. Two drypoints, vividly depicting aspects of synagogue devotion and dating from 1931, were presented to Ben Uri in 1993.

In his final years, Brangwyn lived a reclusive life in Ditchling in Sussex, making his work and disregarding contemporary trends. His unique artistic abilities were recognised with a knighthood in 1941, and in 1952 he became the first artist to be given a retrospective exhibition at the Royal Academy during his lifetime. Frank Brangwyn died in Ditchling, Sussex, England on 11 June 1956. After his death his work was ignored for half a century, but since 2006, a critical reassessment has taken place, leading to a number of important exhibitions and publications. His work is represented UK public collections including the Ben Uri Collection, British Museum, National Museum of Wales, and Tate, among many others.

Related books

  • Sacha Llewellyn, Paul Liss, Frank Brangwyn: A Mission to Decorate Life (London: Liss Fine Art, 2015)
  • Libby Horner, Donald Sinden, Brangwyn at War! (Cambridge, England, 2014)
  • Libby Horner, Brangwyn’s War: Posters of the First World War (Harrogate Borough Council, 2014)
  • Adam Matthew, Frank Brangwyn’s Illustrations from the Pageant of British Empire (Marlborough, Wiltshire, 2012)
  • Libby Horner, Frank Brangwyn: Stained Glass, A Catalogue Raisonné (Stanfors, Kent, 2011)
  • Libby Horner, Frank Brangwyn: A Mission to Decorate Life (London: The Fine Art Society, 2006)
  • Diana de Vere Cole, Brangwyn in Perspective: The Life and Work of Sir Frank Brangwyn, 1867-1956 (The One Roof Press, 2006)
  • Oliver Fairclough, Robert Hooze and Catherine Verdickt eds., Art in Exile: Flanders, Wales and the First World War (Pandora, 2002)
  • Roger Alford and Libby Horner, Brangwyn in his Studio: the Diary of his Assistant Frank Alford (Guildford: Roger Alford, 2004)
  • Walter Schwab & Julia Weiner, eds., Jewish Artists The Ben Uri Collection (London: Ben Uri Art Gallery in association with Lund Humprhies, 1994), p. 118
  • Julian Freeman, The Art of Frank Brangwyn (1980)
  • Rodney Brangwyn, Brangwyn (London: Harper Collins,1978)
  • Catalogue of the Works of Sir Frank Brangwyn RA 1867-1956 (London: William Morris Gallery, 1974)
  • J Boyd, The Drawings of Sir Frank Brangwyn (Leigh on Sea: Humanities Press Intl, 1967)
  • Vincent Galloway, The Oils and Murals of Sir Frank Brangwyn (Leigh on Sea: Frank Lewis, 1962)
  • Cyril Bunt, The Watercolours of Sir Frank Brangwyn (Leigh on Sea: Frank Lewis, 1958)
  • Philip Macer-Wright, Brangwyn: A Study of Genius at Close Quarters (London: Hutchinson & Co., 1940)
  • 'Frank Brangwyn at Seventy', The Observer, 9 May 1937, p. 11
  • Frank Brangwyn, Frank Brangwyn R.A. Water-colour drawings (London: Barbizon House, 1934)
  • Frank Brangwyn and William Gaunt, The Etchings of Frank Brangwyn R.A. (London: The Studio, 1926)
  • Walter Shaw Sparrow, Prints & Drawings by Frank Brangwyn with Some Other Phases of his Art (London: John Lane, 1919)
  • Walter Shaw Sparrow, Frank Brangwyn and His Work (London: K. Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., 1910)
  • Frank Brangwyn, Bénédite Léonce, and Walter Shaw Sparrow, The Spirit of the Age: The Work of Frank Brangwyn, A.R.A. (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1905)

Public collections

Related organisations

  • British Museum (donor)
  • Christ's Hospital School (mural designer) (mural designer)
  • Ministry of Information (designer) (designer)
  • Red Cross (designer) (designer)
  • Royal Academy of Arts (member) (member)
  • Royal Birmingham Society of Artists (President) (President)
  • Royal Exchange (mural designer) (mural designer)
  • Royal National Institute for the Blind (designer) (designer)
  • Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve (member) (member)
  • Royal Society of British Artists (President) (President)
  • Senefelder Club (member) (member)
  • Society of Graphic Art (President) (President)
  • St Aidan's Church (mosaic designer) (mosaic designer)
  • Westminster City School (student) (student)
  • William Morris Museum (donor) (donor)
  • William Morris Workshop (apprentice) (apprentice)
  • Worshipful Company of Skinners (mural designer) (mural designer)

Related web links

Selected exhibitions

  • The Illustrators: The British Art of Illustrations 1894-2020, Chris Beetles Gallery (2020)
  • Brangwyn in Horsham, Horsham Museum and Art Gallery (2019)
  • Refuge and Renewal: Migration and British Art, Royal West of England Academy (2019)
  • Frank Brangwyn in World War I: Art in Aid of Blind Soldiers and Sailors, Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum (2019)
  • Crossing Borders, Ferens Art Gallery (2018–19)
  • Exodus: Masterworks from the Ben Uri Collection, Bushey Museum (2018)
  • Artist In Focus: Frank Brangwyn, The Dudley Museum (2018)
  • Pop-up Life Drawing: Drawing from Brangwyn, Elysium Gallery (2018)
  • Frank Brangwyn’s Prints, Brighton Museum & Art Gallery (2018)
  • Frank Brangwyn: Drawings from the Collection of Father Gerome Esser, Liss Fine Art (2015)
  • Frank Brangwyn: Stations of the Cross, Liss Fine Art (2015)
  • Brangwyn’s War: Posters of the First World War, The Mercer Art Gallery (2014–15)
  • Frank Brangwyn: An Artist at War, South Balcony Brighton Museum (2014)
  • Help is Better than Sympathy, William Morris Gallery (2014)
  • The Great War: As Recorded Through the Fine and Popular Arts, Liss Fine Art, Morley Gallery (2014)
  • Frank Brangwyn 1867-1956, Oriel Gelf Glynn Vivian Art Gallery (2006)
  • Frank Brangwyn: A Mission to Decorate Life, The Fine Art Society (2006)
  • Frank Brangwyn 1867-1956, Leeds City Art Gallery (2006)
  • Frank Brangwyn Centenary, National Museum of Wales (1997)
  • Retrospective exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts (1952)
  • Exhibition of Paintings, Drawings & Etchings by Frank Brangwyn, Royal Academy of Arts (1924)
  Frank Brangwyn
   
Ben Uri collection

Frank Brangwyn in the Ben Uri collection

Ben Uri archive

Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Frank Brangwyn]

Ben Uri library

Publications related to [Frank Brangwyn] in the Ben Uri Library