Etchings of Frank Brangwyn

Sir Frank Brangwyn (1867-1956) was, in the early 1900s, one of the most revered artists in the world. Today he is little-known and is more likely to be associated with the eponymous concert hall in Swansea than with the murals which decorate its walls. As late as 1952 he was important enough to be the subject of the first retrospective at the Royal Academy of a living artist. Now, over 50 years after his death, he is due for a reappraisal.

Born in Bruges of Welsh parents, Brangwyn received no formal training, though as a young man he worked with William Morris and was thoroughly imbued with the principles of the Arts and Crafts Movement. As a painter he had a passion for the sea and his early work was influenced by the realists Bastien-Lepage and H H La Thangue. The Scots colourist Arthur Melville taught him to brighten his palette and he was much struck with Delacroix's lively handling of paint. Other major influences were Whistler, 16th century Venetian art, French symbolism and William Morris and the pre-Raphaelites. From the 1890s onwards he won medals for painting at international exhibitions and in 1895 Siegfried Bing asked him to decorate the façade of the famous Paris shop L'Art Nouveau in a style evoking Japanese woodcuts. At this time Brangwyn was designing carpets and decorative schemes which placed him in the forefront of the avant garde.