Frank Brangwyn (1867 – 1956) British Artist and Designer

Frank Brangwyn (1867 – 1956) was a British Artist and Designer. He was born in Bruges and worked in London.

Prolific artist

Brangwyn was a multi-talented artist. He created designs for stained glass, furniture, pottery, glass tableware, buildings, and interiors in addition to paintings and sketches. He was also a lithographer, a woodcutter, and a book illustrator. Brangwyn is thought to have created over 12,000 works in his lifetime. He created over 1,000 oil paintings, over 660 mixed-media works (watercolours, gouache), over 500 etchings, about 400 woodcuts and engravings, 280 lithographs, 40 architectural and interior designs, 230 furniture designs, and 20 stained glass panels and windows for his mural commissions, which would cover more than 22,000 square feet (2,000 square metres) of canvas.

Biography

From 1882, through his friendship with Arthur H. Mackmurdo, he worked as a draftsman and designed tapestries for William Morris; in 1885, he rented a studio and showed his work for the first time at the Royal Academy; in 1895, he executed murals for the entrance of and a frieze in Siegfried Bing’s shop L’Art Nouveau, Paris; in 1900, designed a bedroom for E.J. Davies, the furniture of which was produced by Norman and Stacey, London. His designs, including furniture, textiles, and ceramics, illustrate his considerable knowledge of historical sources. The coromandel-like doors on his print cabinet, published in the 1914 Studio Year Book of Decorative Art, reflect Far Eastern influences and are close to his contemporary painting style. After the 1914 murals for the San Francisco international exposition, many commissions followed in the USA. In c1927, he designed tableware for Doulton; painted 1928—32 Empire Panels murals for the House of Lords, rejected in 1930 and installed in 1934 in the Guildhall, Swansea; in 1930, designed two chenille carpets woven by James Templeton and hand-knotted Donegals produced by Alexander Morton; in 1932, painted a mural at Rockefeller Center, New York, where other muralists included Diego Rivera and Jose Maria Sert; in 1933, designed the new facade of the Rowley Gallery, London, using carved wood panels depicting artisans at work over Portland stone. In 1936, the Brangwyn Museum was opened in Bruges. On the walls of Skinners’ Hall, London, he painted his 1937 Education and Charity. His work was revived following his 1952 Royal Academy exhibition, the first devoted to a living Academician.

Exhibitions

His work was first shown at the Royal Academy, London in 1885. Painting Buccaneers was shown at 1893 Salon, Paris. Painted murals for 1914 San Francisco ‘Panama-Pacific International Exposition.’ He designed the British Exhibits at 1905 Biennale di Venezia. He was knighted in 1941.

Sources

Byars, M., & Riley, T. (2004). The design encyclopedia. Laurence King Publishing. https://amzn.to/3ElmSlL

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