DOI Heft:
No. 298 (January 1918)
DOI Artikel:Finch, Arthur: Recent decorative work of Frank Brangwyn, A.R.A., [2]
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21264#0161
Recent Decorative JVork of Frank Brangwyn, A.R.A.
"ST. AIDAN FEEDING THE POOR." FROM THE ORIGINAL DESIGN FOR MOSAIC DECORATION IN ST. AIDAN's
CHURCH, LEEDS, BY FRANK BRANGWYN, A.R.A.
of charity. At the outset it was the artist’s
intention to execute the work himself in tem-
pera. But a visit to the church, situated in
the smoke-ridden, industrial area of Leeds,
soon convinced him that within a few years
of its execution in that medium its charm
of rich colour would be lost through the dis-
integrating action of dirt and smoke. The
idea was abandoned, but not before the central
design of the tripartite decoration had been
finished.
The magnitude of the labour involved, both
in the designing of the mosaic and its execution
by Mr. J. B. Rust, will be at once apparent
when I state that the panel covers an area of
one thousand square feet, and the chancel
screen, filled with suppliant, yet boldly drawn,
well-spaced figures of monks and acolytes, has
an area of three hundred square feet. It was
planned to represent the three main incidents
in the life of the saint, running from left to
right of the enormous panel—his landing and
feeding of the poor, St. Aidan preaching, and
his death.
Frank Brangwyn has got right away from
the old conventional style of representation,
of attenuated types; but his instinct for deco-
ration and its purpose has not led him to
abandon those fundamental principles under-
lying all the great mosaic work as represented,
for example, in San Vitale, Ravenna, and
Torrito’s broadly treated composition in the
Sta. Maria Maggiore, Rome, in the fourteenth
century, eight hundred years after. One is not
concerned as to whether the artist has based
his design on a previous work in mosaic ; though
the resemblance to one of the famous Pantheon
designs, that of Genevieve, may be noted in
passing. Nor is it necessary to be overcritical
to faults of individual form, for seen from half-
way down the aisle, the exaggerated types fall
easily into their places in the scheme. What
does interest one is the brilliant technique of
the decorative design. Employing a large
145
"ST. AIDAN FEEDING THE POOR." FROM THE ORIGINAL DESIGN FOR MOSAIC DECORATION IN ST. AIDAN's
CHURCH, LEEDS, BY FRANK BRANGWYN, A.R.A.
of charity. At the outset it was the artist’s
intention to execute the work himself in tem-
pera. But a visit to the church, situated in
the smoke-ridden, industrial area of Leeds,
soon convinced him that within a few years
of its execution in that medium its charm
of rich colour would be lost through the dis-
integrating action of dirt and smoke. The
idea was abandoned, but not before the central
design of the tripartite decoration had been
finished.
The magnitude of the labour involved, both
in the designing of the mosaic and its execution
by Mr. J. B. Rust, will be at once apparent
when I state that the panel covers an area of
one thousand square feet, and the chancel
screen, filled with suppliant, yet boldly drawn,
well-spaced figures of monks and acolytes, has
an area of three hundred square feet. It was
planned to represent the three main incidents
in the life of the saint, running from left to
right of the enormous panel—his landing and
feeding of the poor, St. Aidan preaching, and
his death.
Frank Brangwyn has got right away from
the old conventional style of representation,
of attenuated types; but his instinct for deco-
ration and its purpose has not led him to
abandon those fundamental principles under-
lying all the great mosaic work as represented,
for example, in San Vitale, Ravenna, and
Torrito’s broadly treated composition in the
Sta. Maria Maggiore, Rome, in the fourteenth
century, eight hundred years after. One is not
concerned as to whether the artist has based
his design on a previous work in mosaic ; though
the resemblance to one of the famous Pantheon
designs, that of Genevieve, may be noted in
passing. Nor is it necessary to be overcritical
to faults of individual form, for seen from half-
way down the aisle, the exaggerated types fall
easily into their places in the scheme. What
does interest one is the brilliant technique of
the decorative design. Employing a large
145