Brangwyn was commissioned to design the exterior of 22 Rue de Provence, Paris for Siegfried Bing’s Galerie L’Art Nouveau. The artist was only 28 years old at the time and although his oil paintings had received great acclaim in paris, he had never previously attempted mural painting. The upper frieze was 5486cm (180ft) long and showed potters nestling under the roof. A second, lower frieze showed figures connected by intertwining vines, flowers and leaves. The colours used were brown, olive green and grey ochre with outlining of figures in blue. The ground floor walls were decorated with square stencil patterns of abstracted natural forms, rather like Japanese kategami stencils. The website logo is one of these stencil designs.
According to Shaw Sparrow the exterior frieze was removed and sold to a French collector and Weisberg suggest that it was removed within a month of Bing’s sale to Majorelle Freres in June 1904, but does not indicate that it survived. Konody notes that the frescoes were painted in ‘unfavourable climatic conditions, and much against the artist’s will’ and that the cold weather and rain wrought ‘terrible havoc’ on his work.
Brangwyn also produced two large oils for the entrance hall, Dance and Music, and the Vine carpet.
Other artists collaborating with Bing at the time included Toulouse-Lautrec, van Gogh, Felix Vallotton, Henry van de Velde and Edouard Vuillard.
Literature: The Artist, P G Konody, ‘Frank Brangwyn’, May 1897. Art et Decoration, July 1899, p29. Architectural Record, p281 Vol 12, 1902, M S Bind, ‘L’Art Nouveau’. Burlington Magazine, p748 November 1977, Eidelberg & Henrion-Giele, ‘Horta and Bing: An Unwritten Episode of L’Art Nouveau’. Galloway, 1962 p71. Furst, 1924 p49-51. Belleroche, Brangwyn Talks, Chapman & Hall London 1944 1946 p16-17. Rodnet Brangwyn, Brangwyn, William Kimber London 1978 p72-74. Shaw-Sparrow, Frank Brangwyn and his Work, Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co Ltd London 1915 p133-134. Weisberg, Jaarboek 1985-86, p277-286. Marechal, 1987 p26-28. Weisberg Gabriel P, Art Nouveau Bing: Paris Style 1900, Harry N Abrams New York 1986 58-60. Weisberg, Becker, Posseme, The Origins of L’Art Nouveau, Van Gogh Museum Amsterdam 2005 p116. Marechal Dominique, ‘Frank Brangwyn and the Gallery Art Nouveau’, in Bulletin of the Royal Museums of Fine Arts in Belgium, 2010, No 1, p176-193. Peter Duffy, British Art Journal, Vol VIII, p50, 51. Horner/Naylor, 2006, Powers, ‘The murals of Frank Brangwyn’, p76.
Illustrated: Marechal, 1987 p26,27. Furst, 1924 p49-51. Burlington Magazine, p749 November 1977, Eidelberg & Henrion-Giele, ‘Horta and Bing: An Unwritten Episode of L’Art Nouveau’. A Lys Baldry, Modern Mural Decoration, George Newnes Ltd London 1902 p26. Weisberg Gabriel P, Art Nouveau Bing: Paris Style 1900, Harry N Abrams New York 1986 p50-53,93 stencil designs also used as frontispiece and chapter headings. Gabriel Weisberg, ‘Gallery L’Art Nouveau in Paris 1895’, Jaarboek 1985-86, Bruges 1987 p281,283,284. Marechal, ;Frank Brangwyn and the Gallery Art Nouveau’, in Bulletin of the Royal Museums of Fine Arts in Belgium, 2010, No 1, p180. Horner/Naylor, 2006, Powers, ‘The murals of Frank Brangwyn’, p76.