Detail from 'The Concert Party' by Frank Brangwyn

Frank Brangwyn

The artist and founding member of the William Morris Gallery

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Frank Brangwyn was one of the founders of the William Morris Gallery. He was a successful artist and an early apprentice to Morris. Brangwyn collected art, and in the 1930s he donated a large part of his collection to the people of Walthamstow, along with many of his own paintings, prints and decorative art. A selection of this work, which is rotated regularly, can be seen in this Gallery.

Frank Brangwyn and Walthamstow Borough Council signed a trust deed in 1935 to set up William Morris Gallery and ‘The William Morris Gallery and Brangwyn Gift’ opened to the public in October 1950. The trust deed created a board of trustees, the Trustees of the Brangwyn Gift, whose role is to advise on the Brangwyn collection at the Gallery. You can read more about the Trustees here.

Frank Brangwyn painting preserved under glass at William Morris Gallery

Gallery highlights

Music, 1895
‘Girls Dancing’, 1900
‘Girls Dancing’, 1900
‘The Concert Party’, before 1924
‘The Concert Party’, before 1924
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Music, 1895

Frank Brangwyn created this work as a mural for the entrance of the Galleries L’Art Nouveau, one of the most influential art galleries in Paris. The owner, Siegfried Bing, recognised Brangwyn’s ability to blend the ‘fine’ art of painting with the decorative qualities of the applied arts. This work has the rich, dense composition of a tapestry as the figures playing music blend into the lush foliage surrounding them.

‘Girls Dancing’, 1900

Lithographs are prints made by drawing on to stone (‘lithos’ in Greek) using oil-based crayon or ink. This technique enabled Brangwyn to reproduce a hand-sketched quality in prints such as this one. A sense of depth is created by the tall thin trees in this frenzied and merry scene of young women making and enjoying music. The style of the trees is also reminiscent of Japanese prints admired by Brangwyn and his contemporaries.

‘The Concert Party’, before 1924

This somewhat Classical scene is an unusual subject for Brangwyn. While the pose of the seated, nude female figure in the foreground appears familiar to others of his work, the depiction of her companion’s face is not typical of Brangywn’s style. Along with evidence of underpainting on the canvas, this suggests that although it was attributed to Brangwyn by its former owner, Count William de Belleroche, the painting could have been completed or altered by another artist, perhaps even Belleroche himself.

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