Art Collections Online
The Freedom of the Seas
BRANGWYN, Sir Frank William (1867 - 1956)
The Freedom of the Seas - Frank Brangwyn
Date: 1917
Media: lithograph on paper
Acquired: 1919; Presented by Ministry of Information
Accession Number: NMW A 13153
Collection: The Great War: Britain's Efforts and Ideals
A group of sailors, adrift on the sea, heroically beat off the deadly attack of a sea monster, symbolising the battle against the enemy.
Brangwyn was born in Bruges, but moved with his family back to Britain at a young age. He received little formal art education, yet during his successful career he turned his hand to oil painting, watercolour painting, printing, architecture and design.
Brangwyn was not an official war artists, yet he produced over 80 posters and designs for War Bond Stamps. He was a member of the Senefelder Club, which promoted lithographs. He would print his own images, drawing directly on a lithogrpahic stone rather than using transfer paper.