Studio: international art (59.1913)

Mr. Brangwyn s Tempera Paintings at the Ghent Exhibition

is lighted, as is that in which they will ultimately
be placed, by a top window. The light thus falls
brightly on the table in the centre, and is diffused
gently towards the sides and ends of the room.
In this subdued atmosphere the band of figures
silhouetted in bright, broad colour against the
running background of deep blue sky gives warmth
and tone and interest just at the level where it is
needed; and without distracting the eye leads
it naturally to the large terminal composition of the
lunette, as I have called it for want of a more
descriptive title.

In this crowded canvas Mr. Brangwyn has set
himself a harder problem than was to be solved in
any of the subsidiary panels. For the lunette
is the culminating feature of the whole decorative
scheme : and the arrangement must be at once
something more than a mere repetition of the
string of figures that leads up to it and something
less than an independent, isolated composition on
its own. Thus the figures grouped along the fore-
ground are planned on the same scale as those in
the panels round the sides of the room, yet they
are so linked to other features in the composition

as to fall into a proper relation to the whole
considered scheme of line and mass. In the
centre, or rather a little to the right of the centre,
the last strokes are being given to the riveting of
a great ship’s boiler, on the top of which three men
see to the adjusting of a pulley which is to raise it.
This last group is important, since it saves the
picture from being divided into a simple upper and
lower stratum, and by breaking the line of figures
and leading the eye upward emphasises the part
played by the row of tall chimneys on the left, and
the upright mass of the blast-furnace on the right.
In the foreground on the left the light strikes
strongly upward on the faces and arms of a group
of men at work with hammers on a great iron bar;
while, on the right a master workman consults
a plan and gives instructions to his assistants. It
is hardly necessary to point to the vigour of treat-
ment, the inherent and unfailing sense of the
picturesque—most hateful word—the daring effec-
tiveness of the colour-scheme, the freedom of
touch which makes us almost forget that the
picture is painted in the difficult and hampering
medium of tempera.

CHAIR, TABLE AND CARPET, DESIGNED BY FRANK BRANGWYN, A.R.A., AND EXECUTED BY TURPIN AND CO