The Weavers by Sir Frank Brangwyn RA RWS PRBA HRSA, 1867-1956. Collection: Leeds Art Gallery. Source: Sparrow, Frank Brangwyn and His Work, facing 212. [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 and caption by George P. Landow. You may use these images without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the Internet Archive and the Ontario College of Art and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]
Bibliography
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. 29 December 2012.
Last modified 29 December 2012