£460 

Frank Brangwyn:
Drapery Study, D4990
Unmounted (ref: 5899)

Black and bistre chalk on paper,

 8 1/2 x 12 14 in. (21.5 x 31 cm)

Tags: Frank Brangwyn chalk illustration life drawing study

Provenance: The Artist's Estate; Private collection

Drawing was a compulsion for Brangwyn – endless sketches on thebacks of envelopes, letterheads and scraps of paper (in fact anything that came to hand) attest to this. Brangwyn experimented with mixed media, often combining any of the following – pencil, crayon, chalk, charcoal, pastel, pen and ink and brush and ink. The drawings were made on a variety of different coloured papers.

Although he had no formal training few 20th century British artists rivaled his technical excellence – in this respect he might be compared to Augustus John and William Orpen. Brangwyn obviously enjoyed the process of sketching, hence the volume of work, sometimes drawing the same subject time and again with only small variations, and would return to particular images for inspiration years later, making dating of completed works somewhat difficult. His figure studies and images of plants and animals, carried out in soft pencil, chalk, pastel or mixed media, display a confidence of line which rarely required change. 

We are grateful to Dr Libby Horner for assistance.