BRANGWYN, FRANK ), R.A., English paint er, was born at Bruges, and received his first instruction from his father, the owner of an establishment for church embroideries and kindred objects, who took a leading part in the Gothic revival under Pugin. When the family moved to England, Brangwyn worked for some time in Morris's studio, and then travelled to the East. Indeed, his love of Oriental decorative art exercised a greater influence on him than any early training. His tendency is essentially decorative : a colour-sense of sumptuous richness is wedded to a strong sense of well-balanced harmonious design. Among his decorative panels are "Modern Commerce" in the Royal Exchange, London; those for L'Art nouveau in the rue de Provence, Paris ; for the hall of the Skinners' company, Lon don; and for the British room at the Venice international exhibi tion, 1905. The Luxembourg museum has his "Trade on the Beach"; the Venice municipal museum, the "St. Simon Stylites"; the Stuttgart gallery, the "St. John the Baptist"; the Munich Pinakothek, the "Assisi"; the Carnegie institute in Pittsburgh his "Sweetmeat Seller"; the Prague gallery, his "Turkish Boatmen"; and the National gallery of New South Wales, "The Scoffers." Brangwyn turned his attention to many fields of applied art, and made designs for book decoration, stained glass, furniture, tapestry, metal-work and pottery. He also devoted himself to woodcuts and to etching. He was elected R.A. in 1919.
See W. Shaw Sparrow, Frank Brangwyn and his Work (1915) ; H. Furst, The Decorative Art of Frank Brangwyn (1924)•