Frank Bramley - For of Such is the Kingdom of Heaven - Google Art Project

Frank Bramley RA (6 May 1857 – 9 August 1915) was an English

post-impressionist Post-Impressionism (also spelled Postimpressionism) was a predominantly French art movement that developed roughly between 1886 and 1905, from the last Impressionist exhibition to the birth of Fauvism. Post-Impressionism emerged as a reaction a ...

genre Genre () is any style or form of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other fo ...

painter of the

Newlyn School The Newlyn School was an art colony of artists based in or near Newlyn, a fishing village adjacent to Penzance, on the south coast of Cornwall, from the 1880s until the early twentieth century. The establishment of the Newlyn School was remini ...

Personal life

Bramley was born in Sibsey, near Boston, in

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

to Charles Bramley from Fiskerton also in Lincolnshire.Victor Plarr.
Men and women of the time: a dictionary of contemporaries
'. G. Routledge; 1899. p. 124. From 1873 to 1878 Bramley studied at the Lincoln School of Art. He then studied from 1879 to 1882 at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, where Charles Verlat was his instructor. He lived in

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

from 1882 to 1884 and then moved to

Newlyn Newlyn () is a seaside town and fishing port in south-west Cornwall, England, United Kingdom.Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 203 ''Land's End'' It is the largest fishing port in England. Newlyn lies on the shore of Mount's Bay and for ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

.''Frank Bramley''.
Penlee House. Retrieved 6 October 2012. Bramley married fellow artist Katherine Graham, daughter of John Graham from Huntingstile, Grasmere, Westmoreland, in 1891. The couple lived at Orchard Cottage, which at the time was called Belle Vue Cottage, from 1893 to 1897. In 1895 they moved to Droitwich in the West Midlands.Caroline Fox; Francis Greenacre; Newlyn Orion Galleries.
Artists of the Newlyn School, 1880-1900
'. Newlyn Orion Galleries; 1979. p. 166. They lived at Bellue Vue House in 1889 and by 1900 had settled at Grasmere in the

Lake District The Lake District, also known as ''the Lakes'' or ''Lakeland'', is a mountainous region and National parks of the United Kingdom, national park in Cumbria, North West England. It is famous for its landscape, including its lakes, coast, and mou ...

. Bramley died in Chalford Hill,

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

in August 1915.

Career

Having returned to England from Venice in or after 1884, Bramley established himself in the

artist colony on Rue des Beaux Arts in Newlyn. Along with

Walter Langley Walter Langley (8 June 1852 – 21 March 1922) was an English painting, painter and founder of the Newlyn School of ''plein air'' artists. Biography He was born in Birmingham and his father was a journeyman tailor.1861 Census, RG9; Piece: 2 ...

and

Stanhope Forbes Stanhope Alexander Forbes (18 November 1857 – 2 March 1947) was an Irish artist and a founding member of the influential Newlyn school of painters. He was often called 'the father of the Newlyn School'.''Frank Bramley.''
Cornwall Artists. 6 October 2012. In contrast to other members of the Newlyn school, Bramley specialised in interiors and worked on combining natural and artificial light in his paintings, such as ''A Hopeless Dawn.''

During his time in Newlyn, Bramley was a particular exponent of the ‘square brush technique’, using the flat of a square brush to lay the paint on the canvas in a jigsaw pattern of brush strokes, giving a particular vibrancy to the paint surface. In the early 1890s, his palette became brighter and his handling of the paint looser and more impastoed, while his subject matter narrowed to portraits and rural genre paintings.

An example of Bramley's use of the square brush technique is his painting ''Domino!'' His ''A Hopeless Dawn'' (1888) is held by the Tate Gallery, London after having been purchased for the nation by the Chantrey Bequest and is one of Bramley's most favored works. Praised by the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...

, Penlee House also appreciate this Bramley work: "The painting’s strong emotional and narrative content, together with its aesthetic appeal and tonal harmony, make this one of the most admired Newlyn School works to this day." The young grieving woman in the painting, artist model Effy Reynolds James. The painting was referenced in an April 2010 General Conference address by President of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

Thomas S. Monson Thomas Spencer Monson (August 21, 1927 – January 2, 2018) was an American religious leader, author, and the 16th president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). As president, he was considered by adherents of the rel ...

. Bramley was one of the founders of the

New English Art Club The New English Art Club (NEAC) is a society for contemporary artists that was founded in London, England, in 1886 as an alternative venue to the Royal Academy. The NEAC holds an annual exhibition of paintings and drawings at the Mall Galleries ...

, but left the organization after having received condemning comments from

Walter Sickert Walter Richard Sickert (31 May 1860 – 22 January 1942) was a German-born British painter and printmaker who was a member of the Camden Town Group of Post-Impressionist artists in early 20th-century London. He was an important influence on d ...

. In 1894 Bramley became an Associate of the Royal Academy (ARA) and in 1911 he became a

Royal Academician The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...

(RA). He was also a gold medal winner at the

Paris Salon The Salon (), or rarely Paris Salon (French: ''Salon de Paris'' ), beginning in 1667 was the official art exhibition of the in Paris. Between 1748 and 1890 it was arguably the greatest annual or biennial art event in the Western world. At the ...

Exhibitions

* 1884 - 1912: Royal Academy * 1890: ''Domino'', Dowdeswell Exhibition

Works

Selected paintings include: * ''A Venetian Market Girl,'' 1883. * ''Primrose Day,'' 1885. * ''Everyone His Own Tale,'' 1885. * ''Domino,'' 1886. * ''Eyes and No Eyes,'' 1887. * ''A Hopeless Dawn,'' 1888. * ''Saved,'' 1889. * ''For of Such is the Kingdom of Heaven'', 1891. * ''Old Memories,'' 1892. * ''After Fifty Years,'' 1893. * ''Sleep, A Portrait of Mrs. Bolitho,'' 1895. * ''After the Storm,'' 1896. * ''Friends'', 1907.''Friends''.
Christies.

Gallery

File:Frank Bramley, by Frank Bramley.jpg, ''Self portrait'', 1897, oil on canvas File:Sir Frederick Augustus Abel, 1st Bt by Frank Bramley.jpg, Sir Frederick Augustus Abel, 1st Baronet, National Portrait Gallery, London File:Frank Bramley - Every One His Own Tale 1885.jpg, ''Everyone Has His Own Tale'', 1885, oil on canvas File:Frank Bramley - Domino! 1886.jpg, ''Domino!'', 1886, oil on canvas File:Frank Bramley - Eyes And No Eyes 1887.jpg, ''Eyes and No Eyes'', 1887, etching File:Frank Bramley - Delicious Solitude 1909.jpg, ''Delicious Solitude'', 1909, oil on canvas File:Frank Bramley - Borgerhout Anvers.jpg, ''Borgerhout Anvers'', oil on canvas File:Frank Bramley - Flower Study.jpg, ''Flower Study'', oil on canvas File:Frank Bramley - Friends.jpg, ''Friends - The Artist's Wife Katherine And Her Dog'', oil on canvas File:Frank Bramley - Helen Chalmers 1908.jpg, Helen Chalmers, 1908

Notes

References

External links

*

(ArtCyclopedia)
Frank Bramley - short biography
(Artfact) {{DEFAULTSORT:Bramley, Frank 19th-century English painters English male painters 20th-century English painters Alumni of the University of Lincoln Artists from Lincolnshire English genre painters People from Sibsey Post-impressionist painters Royal Academicians Newlyn School of Artists 1857 births 1915 deaths Royal Academy of Fine Arts (Antwerp) alumni People from Grasmere (village) 20th-century English male artists 19th-century English male artists