Study for Grand Trunk Railway mural.
Sir Aston Webb was placed in charge of the interior design for the Canadian Grand Trunk Railway offices in Cockspur Street, London and invited Brangwyn to produce a mural. The semi-circular room was 40ft wide, 50ft deep and 18ft high and the mural was to be placed between wood panelling and the heavy ceiling joists. The subject matter was The Introduction of European Civilization into the Country of the Red Indian. Against a rolling panorama divided by the usual vertical tree trunks, Brangwyn created scenes showing Red Indians at peace before the advent of the railroad, prospectors, planning the railway, Europeans felling trees, and finally a viaduct and a train.
The panels were cleaned by Walter Millner, a London painter and restorer, in 1947. A false ceiling was placed in the office at which stage 15cm (6in) was apparently removed from the top of the canvas and 122cm (4ft) was removed at either end to make way for air conditioners. Between about 1965 and 1975 the mural was hidden behind a curtain. When the painting was finally removed in 1975 at a cost of £1477 (plus VAT) it was cut in places and chunks of plaster remained on the back surface. It was flown to Canada and donated by CNR to the Canadian Government in 1977 and was restored by Wendy Baker in 1981. It was then placed in the Ante Chamber of the Canadian Government Conference Center in Ottawa (the former Grand Trunk Railway station).
Ante Chamber of the Canadian Government Conference Center in Ottawa showing part of the mural and some studies.
Literature: Furst, 1924 p81-83. The Studio, p30-37 Vol 48, October 1910. ‘Mr Brangwyn’s Tempera Frieze at the New Offices of the Grand Trunk Railway’. Shaw-Sparrow, Frank Brangwyn and his Work, Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co Ltd London 1915 p129. Rodney Brangwyn, Brangwyn, William Kimber London 1978 p138-140. Galloway, 1962 p72. Willsdon, Mural painting in Britain 1840-1940, Oxford University Press 2000 p349-52. British Journal of Canadian Studies, p42-52 Vol 8, No 1, C Rolfe, ‘A British Artist and the Romance of Canada’s Railways’. Alford/Horner, 2004, p21 n46, p124.
Illustrated: Furst, 1924 p81-83. The Studio, p30-36 Vol 48, October 1910, ‘Mr Brangwyn’s Tempera Frieze at the New London Offices of the Grand Trunk Railway’. The Architect, 7 October 1910. The Studio Year Book, p43 1909, part of frieze. Willsdon, Mural painting in Britain 1840-1940, Oxford University Press, 2000, p351.
Studies on this website, Man with Nude Torso holds sledgehammer and Two Indians leaning on poles