Artist of the week The life and times of Sir Frank Brangwyn May 12, 1867 Born in Belgium to Welsh parents 1874/75 Family moves to England; Brangwyn attends South Kensington Art Schools 1882–84 Works for William Morris & Co 1891 First one-man exhibition, at London’s Royal Arcade Gallery
1895 Commissioned to paint murals for Siegfried Bing’s Maison de l’Art Nouveau, Paris, the first of more than 20 mural commissions during his lifetime 1896 Marries Lucy Annie Ray
1898 Designs stained-glass panels for Bing, to be made by Tiffany 1902 Commissioned to paint Skinners’ Hall murals 1904 Starts London School of Art
1907 Designs British rooms at Venice Biennale and awarded gold medal for Santa Maria through the Rigging 1908 Gives up teaching
1911 Helps design street decorations for George V’s Coronation 1913 Made president of Royal Society of British Artists 1914–18 Produces more than 80 posters for the war effort 1918 Asked to design the proposed Kyoraku Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan 1919 Elected full member of Royal Academy (RA) 1921 Made president of the Society of Graphic Art 1924 Lucy dies from bronchopneumonia
Poster of about 1914 by Brangwyn encouraging US citizens to purchase war bonds
the fur trade. Three centuries after its emergence, in 1327, Edward III granted the company the right to elect ‘good and trusty’ men to oversee the quality of furs sold in London and beyond. From the 16th century, Company men were involved in trade with the new world; several were prominent politically during the Civil War, the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660 and the Glorious Revolution of 1688. Proud of its heritage, in April 1902, after consulting the editor of The Studio magazine, the Company offered Brangwyn £1,000 a year for seven years to create a cycle
of murals commemorating its rich and diverse history. Inevitably, it was requested that Brangwyn depict Edward III granting the guild its charter; other panels include River Procession, 1453, The Departure of Sir James Lancaster for the East Indies, 1594 and Sir Thomas Pilkington’s Banquet, 1689. In each case, the artist, whose training consisted of little more than an early spell in the workshops of Morris & Co contributing to wallpaper and embroidery designs, crowded his canvases with lively incidents, in a manner he had already successfully employed in
1930 Exhibition of furniture, carpets, lamps, crockery and glassware on London’s Oxford Street
1936 Brangwyn Museum opens in Bruges, Belgium. Now called Arentshuis, it holds the largest collection of his work 1939 Hosts some 30 refugee children at his cottage in Ditchling, East Sussex 1941 Knighted, but doesn’t attend Buckingham Palace; leaves Ditchling for the last time in his life 1952 First living artist to be accorded retrospective at RA June 11, 1956 Dies of senile arteriosclerosis and is interred at St Mary’s Catholic Cemetery, London NW10 VM
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