Agriculture, c. 1935?

Sir Frank Brangwyn RA (1867 - 1956)

RA Collection: Art

This squared-up drawing in mixed media depicts a crowded pastoral scene with figures engaged in agricultural activities including ploughing, milking, sheep shearing and fruit picking.

Brangwyn expert Libby Horner has noted that the William Morris Gallery, Walthamstow, London, has an oil on canvas version of the same composition entitled 'Study: Agriculture' dated c.1935. She suggests that this, and the Royal Academy drawing, are preparatory studies for a mural commission probably involving four panels depicting agriculture, fisheries, shipbuilding and industry (see also drawings 04/86, 04/90, 04/94).

The woman on the far left of this composition also features in exactly the same post in 'Industrial Fire, one of Brangwyn's eight murals commissioned for the Panama Pacific International Exposition of 1915 in San Francisco (and now in the Herbst Theatre).