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Brangwyn Hall, Swansea - Home of the Empire Panels |
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From London to Swansea
In 1933, whilst the Guildhall was under construction and the foundations of the Assembly Hall were being laid, an announcement was made by Lord Iveagh's trustees that the 16 panels painted by Frank Brangwyn, the international artist, would be given to a municipality or body who could house and display them.
In 1924, Lord Iveagh had decided to provide, at his own expense and on behalf of the peers of the realm, a memorial to their own war dead. The memorial would be a mural painting, in panels, amounting to a total surface area of 3,000 square feet, to be placed in the Royal Gallery of the House of Lords.
Brangwyn worked on the war scenes from 1925-26, but he and his patron discovered that they wanted something more optimistic. Consequently, the war scenes were set aside (they now reside in the National Museum Wales Cardiff), and Brangwyn re-started the series with a 'synthetic panorama of the beauty of Great Britain … [to show] what the Forces of the Empire fought for.'
The theme of the panels became the peoples and produce of the great Empire, which had loyally supported Britain in the First World War. Brangwyn said of his work: 'My theme is the Empire, in all its majesty and multitudinous resource, for that, as I see it, is the most fitting commemoration.' The scenes of a luxuriant and brilliantly coloured jungle have a spirit of fantasy, artistically inspired by his many travels and by studying the animals at London Zoo.
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