Studio: international art (72.1918)

Recent Decorative PVork of Frank Brang^uyn, A.R.A.

RECENT DECORATIVE WORK OF
FRANK BRANGWYN, A.R.A. BY
ARTHUR FINCH.

II. MOSAIC DESIGNS FOR ST. AID AN’S
CHURCH, LEEDS.

IF England has lost the finest series of mural
paintings yet executed by Frank Brang-
wyn, she is fortunate in the possession of
a unique example, on a big scale, of this
artist’s work in the much neglected medium of
mosaic.

Living in a land which has not the advantages
of the southern sun, whose warmth has proved
such a great asset to the peoples of Italy, France,
and Byzantium in the assimilation of, and
consequent love for, rich and daring colour
combinations, both in dress and public decora-
tion, it is not surprising that we in England
should possess few examples of what is, without
a doubt, the nearest approach to permanent
wall decoration possible in an imperfect world.
Still, the lack of colour sense among Northern
peoples is not the only cause of the neglect
of mosaic as a decorative medium. At least
two other factors operate. One is the divorce
between the modern architect and the deco-
rative artist, as in the crafts, accentuated •
by the prevailing subdivision of labour
throughout industry. The other is the
absence of accomplished artists who have
also mastered the essentials of mosaic
design. This requires an appreciation for
spacing in conformity with the interior
architecture, the handling of the cartoons
in a broad manner with figures possessing
solidity and clearness of outline; the avoid-
ance of pictorial effects and unnecessary
detail, both in colour arrangement and
drawing. Then it has also to be remem-
bered that the Gothic, Romanesque, and
Byzantine churches and public buildings
were pre-eminently suited for large wall
decoration, while modem ones are not.
Moreover, the Church, in the past a great
patron of the arts, has lost its power, and
with its decline her interest in art has
weakened.

Even in France, whose heritage of mosaic
is known to all, a decadent note is evident
in much of the modern work, emphasized
in the representation of trivial themes over-
loaded with detail, and the undue pro-
142

minence of the artist’s personal qualities of
form as against the importance of striving to
keep the design in relation to the abiding
scheme of the architecture.

When it is known how few modern mosaic
designs have resulted in success, even in France
and Italy, when judged by the accepted canons
of art, it is not surprising that little new work
should have been attempted. There is, of
course, the scheme for the neo-Byzantine
Westminster Cathedral and the recent excellent,
bold design of Professor Moira, of St. George
slaying the dragon, , set in the tympanum over
the entrance hall of the United Kingdom Provi-
dent Institution in the Strand.

That but recently a large and imposing
scheme in the same tesserae as that used for
Gerald Moira’s work should have been under-
taken, with no little success, in a north-country
church is of great significance. It should
presage a future for the employment of mosaic
as a decorative and colour medium which the
indifferent work of the last few decades would

INTERIOR OF ST. AIDAN’s CHURCH, LEEDS, WITH APSIDAL
MOSAIC DECORATION DESIGNED BY FRANK BRANGWYN,
A.R.A.

[Photo, Miss Jackson Mason)