Navvies [construction workers] by Sir Frank Brangwyn RA RWS PRBA HRSA, 1867-1956. The Studio 34 (1905): 287. [Click on image to enlarge it.]
In this typical phase of his work Brangwyn has used pastel on a good many occasions, as in studies for the room decorations that he carried out in the Venice International Exhibition of 1905. He then designed the whole scheme in the British section, its woodwork and its furniture. There were four large oblong panels and two smaller ones, representing forms of present-day labour — potters, for instance, navvies, smiths, and workers in steel, this one being a study in pastel. It was hoped in Venice that these decorations would remain permanently there, in the Municipal Gallery, but thanks to an English patron of art, Mr. S. Wilson, they were purchased for the City Art Gallery of Leeds, and a fifth panel — "Weavers" — was commissioned to bear them company in the Brangwyn room. Many sketches were made for these works, some in pastel, and others in contd; two of the most important passed into the private collection of M. A. G. Migeon of the Louvre. [Frank Brangwyn and His Work, 172]
Formatting by George P. Landow. [You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the Internet Archive and (2) link your document to this URL or credit the Victorian Web in a print one.]
Bibliography
Covey, A.S. “Frank Brangwyn's scheme for the decoration of the British Section at the Venice Exhibition.” The Studio. 34 (May 1905): 285-92. Internet Archive. Web. 14 February 2012.
Sparrow, Walter Shaw. Frank Brangwyn and His Work. New York: Dana Estes, 1911. Internet Archive version of a copy in the Ontario College of Art. Web. 28 December 2012.
Last modified 12 June 2020