Paintings in Chapel - Frank Brangwyn

[Martin]

Visiting this thread, active almost a decade ago, I noted an important omission. Frank Brangwyn does indeed have a museum devoted to his work. It is in Bruges, Belgium and merits a visit. (Also don’t miss the nearby museum of Flemish primitives.) Brangwyn was born in Bruges, the son of the British Consul. He donated works to the city of Bruges, which set up the museum. Also he has a second museum devoted to his work, in Walthamstow. It is a double museum, shared with William Morris, with whom he worked closely for several years, and is the Art Fund Museum of the Year - 2013. A mention above was made of his work in Manitoba, Canada. At various times in the Blue reference was made of his work displayed in Museums located in Kansas City and Cape Town. So presumably many thought highly of his work.

This thread started with a request for information from OB Guy Vesey, who was writing a thesis at St Andrews University. If he reads this, perhaps he can tell us what has happened to his Brangwyn studies since then. (He’s probably now a Professor in the History of Art.)

[Mid A 15]

Speaking of the Brangwyn murals:


This Old Blue is writing a dissertation about them...


Martin Clay (LHB, LaA 72-78)

Martin remembered the impact that the murals had on him during chapel services. He is featuring these as the main theme in his dissertation for a Masters Degree in Religious Studies, ‘The Impact of the Murals in Chapel’.

He is particularly interested in finding out the feelings from Old Blues about these paintings during their time spent in chapel. Did they have any impact on you at all? Martin would be grateful if you complete a questionnaire to help with his reseach. Please follow the link to take this survey: Click Here

EDIT: The link can be found on the CHOBA newsletter for September 2013. It doesn't appear to work here.

[Chris T]

I went to the CHOBA website, found the link to Martin's questionnaire and it did not work there either. Can someone please fix it? Thanks.

[Mid A 15]

I went to the CHOBA website, found the link to Martin's questionnaire and it did not work there either. Can someone please fix it? Thanks.

I received my copy of the Old Blue today and there is a request to mail your comments to: mail@henry-james.com

[Fertii]

I was there in the summer for the first time in 20 odd years...god those paintings were gawdy.

[rockfreak]

I checked out the websites on him and what became apparent was how restrained the murals in the CH chapel were. At what seemed to me his best, his stuff could be a riot of sunflower yellows, emerald greens and vibrant purples. In the early 20th century he seems to have been part of the strain of German and French Expressionism but with his own British take on it.
Indeed, one picture is a lovely portrait in beige, ochre and orange tones of two chicks with their tits out.
Could it have been that he felt a bit restrained by the religious nature of the CH chapel commission and that this inhibited his glorious palette? Quite apart from the fact that I'm not sure who got their tits out in the gospels. Mary Magdalene perhaps?

[MrEd]

First of all, happy Founders Day to y'all, Julian calendar permitting.

From what I remember (in my time at CH late 1970s to mid-1980s), the only mural I can positively recall shows St. Augustine preaching to some heathens as it commemorated his arrival in what became England. The rest I cannot remember, but I was never in the choir and my main memory is of sitting in the last quarter of the chapel rows furthest from the altar.

I also recall it being said (probably by my brother 3 years ahead of me at CH), the murals were made deliberately awful/error-strewn to give boys something of a distraction during Chapel and/or as an alternative means of getting the message across.

I have zero drawing/painting talent but I greatly admire the 'Still Life/Tromp l'oeil' school, and utterly despite the shoddy artists who cannot touch this zenith, like strollers in the desert at night reaching for the stars.

[sejintenej]

I also recall it being said (probably by my brother 3 years ahead of me at CH), the murals were made deliberately awful/error-strewn to give boys something of a distraction during Chapel and/or as an alternative means of getting the message across.

I have zero drawing/painting talent but I greatly admire the 'Still Life/Tromp l'oeil' school, and utterly despite the shoddy artists who cannot touch this zenith, like strollers in the desert at night reaching for the stars.

Miss Todd so put me off art in any form, good, bad, terrorist or whatever I don't suppose my eyes lighted upon those paintings for more than milliseconds. How could anyone claim to paint a portrait of St Augustine or anyone f that or an earlier era I cannot imagine. As for the dining hall painting we know that the king's face appears twice (the reason was understandable) because the artist couldn't be bothered to paint someone else's face on the pre-king's portrait after his accession.

I won't claim that I have no artistic skills - Miss Todd destroyed any interest - but in the grecians I was forced back into her presence.
Out of any ideas, I worked on the concept of those famous hands and did one every lesson. IMHO they came out well but boring as sin. Now I would like to paint (my two living older relatives are actually quite good and, better, enthousiastic) but something is holding me back - give me a 400 foot face to climb

[MrEd]

I am a bit shocked to discover that the artist behind the murals was celebrated to the extent of getting a 'knighthood', the paintings are embarrassingly awful and I had assumed that the Foundation was scraping the barrel and skimping on the artist by hiring a journeyman. It just shows how early the cultural decline of the UK had set in.

[harryh]

I am a bit shocked to discover that the artist behind the murals was celebrated to the extent of getting a 'knighthood', the paintings are embarrassingly awful and I had assumed that the Foundation was scraping the barrel and skimping on the artist by hiring a journeyman. It just shows how early the cultural decline of the UK had set in.

It is all a question of persoective.

[rockfreak]

Looking at these pictures again I think I was hard in a previous post on poor old Brangwyn about them not being colourful enough. It may be that my old place in chapel was opposite the less colourful works. Many do indeed have the lovely blues, purples and ochres that you can find in his other work. I placed them, perhaps wrongly, as being influenced by the German and French expressionist school of the late 19th and early 20th centuries but there is also a clear touch of the Pre-Raphaelites about them - those very carefully arranged upright figures. He apparently shared a studio with William Morris. The more I look at them the more I like them. Maybe it has to do with now being free of Christ's Hospital and its oppressive 1950s Muscular Christianity atmosphere. Sorry Frank.

[MrEd]

I am a bit shocked to discover that the artist behind the murals was celebrated to the extent of getting a 'knighthood', the paintings are embarrassingly awful and I had assumed that the Foundation was scraping the barrel and skimping on the artist by hiring a journeyman. It just shows how early the cultural decline of the UK had set in.

It is all a question of persoective.

No, the paintings were awful, compare those works with the splendour of Santa Maria del Miracoli in Venice, built around the time of the slaughter fest of Bosworth Field in England. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Mar ... li,_Venice