In 1925 Lord Iveagh of the Guinness family commissioned Brangwyn to complete the decoration of the Royal Gallery in the House of Lords. The fee was £20,000 and an agreement was made that the work should not be seen until completed in its entirety because Brangwyn knew that someone would say ‘Oh I don’t like that’.
The original scheme was to commemorate the war and Brangwyn developed works documenting the reality of tank warfare, including two large finished sections which are now placed in the entrance hall of the National Museum of Wales, Cardiff. The status of the tank as propaganda which indicated the superiority of the Allied forces made it iconic.
Another idea had been to decorate the Gallery with heraldic arms – but perhaps this didn’t allow Brangwyn’s imagination enough scope. It was finally decided to depict the British Empire which the gallant soldiers had helped to save. Interestingly the change of mind coincided with the establishment of the Empire Marketing Board whose mission was to promote the Empire’s mutual relationship with Britain through trade and emigration.
Unfortunately Lord Iveagh died in 1927, followed by Lord Lincolnshire in 1928, who, as Lord Great Chamberlain, had actually initiated the scheme. The Royal Fine Art Commission insisted on some completed panels being temporarily installed in the Gallery. Brangwyn prevaricated. Eventually he gave way and five panels were installed. Guess what, the Fine Art Commission said ‘we don’t like that’. In fact they rejected them out of hand as indicating ‘no association with the Empire as such’. The Times art critic disagreed, pertinently pointing out that ‘it is only because they AVOID successfully the LESS ADMIRABLE SIDE of the idea of Empire which is associated with conquest and company promoting. The GEOGRAPHICAL implications of Empire are admirably conveyed’.
Perhaps this can be attributed to the fact that Brangwyn himself, believing that all men are equal, was not an Imperialist and didn’t approve of Britain exploiting its dependent territories.
Brangwyn completed the commission, although he must have been exceptionally demoralised, and the canvasses were rolled up and sent to Kenwood House before being exhibited at the Ideal Home Exhibition in 1933. Bidders from the USA and Japan were prepared to pay £40,000 for the murals but it was felt that they should remain in Britain. British cities including London, Birmingham and Cardiff were all interested, but it was Swansea who stole the lead. A delegation from Swansea went to see Iveagh’s agent Bland in London. Bland suggested they see Brangwyn and the entire party then dashed down to Ditchling. Brangwyn appeared to warm to the idea. Percy Thomas, the architect of Swansea’s Guildhall (then under construction) was despatched to meet Brangwyn and explain how the structure of the main hall could be modified, by about 2 ½ inches, to include the panels. Although Brangwyn was invited down to Swansea he never saw the panels in their final position.
The artist had begun his research for the Empire panels with great optimism and delight, stating ‘all my time is spent on this, working from flowers, trees, animals, and black and colored men, women and children. It is very interesting, more especially the animals and a grand chance for me to take up animals and landscape and do it finely. It has never really been done, only a bit here and there. I wish I had tried it a long time ago. I have many animals and birds which come and go’.
He drew plant studies from his South African sketchbooks and his collection of rare plants at Ditchling, he immortalised Lucy Brangwyn’s parrot, the dog Roger and the pet goat. He searched through his already extensive photographic resource and collected new images of elephants, primates, cows and horses; of yuccas and other exotic plants; of Delhi and Bengal.
He produced literally hundreds of preliminary drawings, sketches and cartoons for the panels, of flowers, plants, animals and people. He was a superb and natural draughtsman and his drawings must surely bear comparison with those of the Old Masters. His studies carried out in soft pencil, chalk, pastel or mixed media, display a confidence of line which rarely required change. He had no conception of the value of these works, they were something he loved and laboured over, but for his own use, not public consumption. For this reason they represent the most personal reflection of the artist.
He used photographs extensively for this project, placing the models against a white background, making it easier to assess the outline. Some of these, of nude or partially dressed women, are amongst the most exquisite photographs Brangwyn ever took, revealing a sensuality which is completely lost in the final work. The drawings and photographs were probably assembled in a rather ‘cut and paste’ manner into cartoons which were then squared and enlarged.
Brangwyn could not, of course, produce these HUGE murals on his own. He relied, as always, on assistants, who ranged from part-time pupils to aspiring artists and those who were already part of the art establishment. Kenneth Center, the American Dean Cornwell, Reginald Lewis, an Italian Scatalo, Roger Bland (son of Iveagh’s secretary) and Brangwyn’s neighbour, the artist Elijah Albert Cox all helped with the British Empire panels.
There is an apocryphal story that Sir Thomas Beecham was conducting in the Brangwyn Hall and someone asked him what he thought of the Brangwyn panels – ‘Oh’ replied Beecham ‘all tits and bananas’!