You cannot miss Frank Brangwyn’s name in Brynmill, Swansea as there’s a huge hall that takes his name. These past two weeks or so I have worked as an invigilator for Swansea University. One of the venues used for exams is this beautiful hall. The murals that adorn the massive walls are stunning.
Frank Brangwn was born in Bruges, Belgium (Welsh father, English mother) in 1867. His father was a church architect and craftsman. Frank was largely self-taught but that did not stop him from becoming a painter, water colourist, engraver, illustrator and progressive designer. In his youth, Brangwyn had joined Royal Navy Volunteers and travelled extensively including Russia and South Africa.
He was an astonishingly proflic artist. As well as paintings and drawings, he produced designs for stained glass, furniture, ceramics, table glassware, buildings and interiors. He was also 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.
Known as the British Empire Panels Brangwyn spent a total of 7 years producing 16 large works that cover 3,000 sq ft (280 m2). When you see the size of the murals you can understand why they took 7 years to complete.
In 1928 the House of Lords was commissioned Brangwyn to produce a series celebrating the beauty of the British Empire and the Dominions to fill the Royal Gallery. Lord Iveagh tried to secure Brangwyn full artistic freedom to design and paint the commission his way. Unfotunately, Lord Iveagh died in 1927. After 5 years of work the panels were displayed in the Royal Gallery for approvial by the Lords, but the peers refused to accept them because they were “too colourful and lively” for the place. It was worse than that. Some of them mocked his work in the national press. Lord Crawford, a Tory Peer, wrote in a “The Daily News” that the painting would be more suited to a night club than the House of Lords: “Just imagine five feet long bananas and grinning black monkeys looming over them!”
It has been suggested that, this was rejection was part of a increasing restriction on artiostic expression that accompanying the birth of totalitarian movements across Europe. Fortuantely for the people of Wales and Swansea in partricular 1934 the panels were purchased by Swansea Council in 1934 and were housed in the Brangwyn Hall, Swansea.
The House of Lords’ loss is Swansea’s gain. These panels are absolutely astonishing. They are massive, colorful and packed to the gills with detail. Apparently, the height of the Hall’s ceiling had to be increased slightly to accommodate the tallest of the panels. They dominate the very large hall and the photographs fail the capture the huge scale of the panels. The are a true feast for the eyes.
The Glynn Vivian Gallery and Brangwyn Hall has on display quite a few of Brangwyn’s beautiful preparatory cartoons. He was a brillant draughtsman.
Interestingly Frank Barngwyn used modern technology to aid him; photography. The squaring up technique is one that artists have used for centuries, and is still used today by many (including me). If you look closely at the murals you can see the feint pencil lines of the grids he used. (Brangwyn photographs courtesy of Paul Cava Fine Art https://paulcava.com/frank-brangwyn)
![Sir Frank William Brangwyn (British (born Belgium), Bruges 1867–1956 Ditchling, Sussex) [Study for Missouri State Capitol Murals], ca.1914 Gelatin silver print with graphite; Image: 21.4 × 16.4 cm (8 7/16 × 6 7/16 in.) The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Twentieth-Century Photography Fund, 2013 (2013.269) http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/307068](https://i0.wp.com/emmafcownie.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/DP312925.jpg?w=487&h=635&ssl=1 "DP312925")
The animals and people are incredible but the foilage of each country has also been painstakingly researched. I initally thought that the mass of green were sort of generic foliage but when I looked athe panel for England I was blown away when I realised that I recognised every type of leaf and flower; oak leaves, horsechestnuts, sunflowers, pears, apples, foxgoves, irises, blueblues. This is true for all the panels.
I particularly enjoyed the details at the bottpom of the panels as they were at eye level. There were lots of tortoises, rabbits, bugs, butterfies and reptiles. The only thing thatappeared to be missiong were fish and aquautic mammals! In the 1930s, before colour television and nature programs (and the nearest zoo in Bristol) this riot of creatures must have been quite a relevation for the people of Swansea.
Frank Brangwyn’s evident enthusiasm for the British empire was somewhat out-of-step with the increasingly introspective times of the inter-war years. Interestingly, his treatment of the different and diverse peoples of the British Empire was powerful and energetic. There are plenty of impressive female breasts but the women are strong and vital figures, not overtly sexualised. Perhaps, his celebration of empire makes for uncomfortable viewing in a post-empire world. Yet, the men and women of the Empire are depicted with dignity and sympathy, and the accent throughout is on the people, animals and plants of the conquered countries rather than on the activities of the conquerors.
Sadly, the rejection of the Panels by the Lords devasted Frank Brangwyn and it caused lasting depression in him. He became increasingly pessimistic and a hypochondriac and began disposing of his possessions during the 1930s. This is so sad as these murals are so wonderful!
Burma
I think these are fantastic. I remember them from my graduation ceremony in 1968.
That’s pretty impressive to have made an impression that’s lasted 50 years!
how beautiful they are –
I’d not heard of him, so thanks for that. Beautiful work. A shame that he let rejection by the House of Lords get to him. I would have said that rejection by that moribund bunch would count as a compliment to most artists. I use a grid now for drawing. It does make such a difference, especially for complex subjects
His use of the grid is very impressive. The murals are huge and yet the treatment of all the varied subjects is very measured.
Dead right, da iawn.
Thank you!
Westminster’s loss is a big gain for Swansea and Wales.
Indeed it is, Dafydd.
Seven years for 16 ginormous panels. would have taken me 70 years. And when did he find time for the other 11,984 works he managed to produce in his lifetime? Incredible work!
Yes ginormous is the right word for them. The planning, research, composition and execution are incredible. Brangwyn went to London zoo to study the animals there for his paintings. I expect he popped along to Kew Gardens to research the plants. He was an incredible man!
Fascinating panels. Thanks so much for sharing this.
Thank you
totally new to me — what a wonderful draughtsman and colorist!
I’d never heard of him before I moved to Swansea, either, yet so prolific!
I’m a Brangwyn fangirl too! 😀
Yay! I think more people should be – he’s sort of taken for granted in Swansea, I suspect.
Wow, astounding stuff. I must see them in person one day. Very insightful.
Thank you, they are worth a visit!
I often sing in Brangwyn Hall with the Swansea Philharmonic Choir, and attend concerts there as well. I’m always intrigued by the Brangwyn panels. Like you, Emma, he had a very distinctive way of using colour. Long before I’d heard of Brangwyn I knew his haunting WW1 paintings from frequently being taken to the National Museum in Cardiff as a child. It’s a pity the most memorable one there, showing a tank in action, is now stuck behind a coffee counter!
Hello Dan, great to hear from you. The National Museum in Cardiff has a number of huge paintings to commemorate the First World War. Its funny that I associate Brangwyn with all this luscious natural life because of the “Empire Panels” but yes, his “Tank in Action” is another triumph of composition and colour. One of my favourites is the one that’s so big they have to have it on the wall at the far end of the main hall. It’s “Big Guns to the Front” by
Lucy Elizabeth Kemp-Welch (1869–1958)
https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/big-guns-to-the-front-162208 I think I enjoyed being able to see the Brangwyn paintings in broad day light, previously I’d only ever seen them in the evening at events.
Thank you for all these images of the Brangwyn panels. I saw them when I was in the congregation at a graduation and was fascinated by them (but couldn’t get a close look at more than the one near to me given the circumstances). I don’t suppose they would be painted now but, as you say, they are respectful of the subject matter. Ceri
I too had seen them several times at events in semi-darkness which is why I really relished an opportunity to have a good look at them in good light.
Zijn werk spreekt me zeker aan
Thank you, Marylou
We have been Brangwyn collectors for over 30 years and now have 64 original drawings relating to the Empire Panels. They show his great drawing skills. Sadly the Glynn Vivian show no interest in displaying them – even for free!!!
Hello John, Frank Brangwyn was a great draughtsman and it must be a great joy to have so many of his wonderful drawings. I find it incredible that the Glynn Vivian aren’t interested in displaying any of them – after all they have a couple of his drawings on the wall in the entrance hall and at least one painting in the upstairs gallery!
Dear John, I have asked an artist friend of mine who says that it might be worth asking Swansea Museum (the old one) if they are interested. If you email me I can pass your detail to her as she’s part of a big art project focusing on the Empire Panels called “Now the Hero”. https://www.nowthehero.wales/the-perfomance
[…] across the rest of the painting is the Guildhall, which contains the beautiful panels painted by Frank Brangwyn. Rising up behind these buildings is are the parts of Swansea known as Sandfields, Brynmill, and […]