'Man with a Bow Saw' lithograph. A man, bow
saw in hand, bends over a plank of wood. FA208396
Printmaker
Brangwyn achieved early fame as a printmaker and in his lifetime designed over 1,000 original prints. He was excited by the prospects offered by printmaking to make art affordable to a broader audience. His work is characterised by an intense sympathy for the terrible and daily labour of humanity.
Other themes that emerge include
- a fascination with ships and the sea, especially the dismantling of the monumental warships that were once the pride of the British Navy
- figure groups caught up in the fury of modern life
- building yards, odd corners of old cities, especially London and Venice
- sheds, factories and foundries and smoking, writhing, living matter
Many of Brangwyn's etchings are of great size. As one commentator wrote 'the artist doesn't beguile or charm; he dominates'.
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