Artwork Details
21-1/4 x 32 in. (image) 27-1/8 x 40-5/8 in. (sheet)
Mark Descriptionsigned in pencil below image lower right: Frank Brangwyn
Accession NumberJacob Metzger Fund
CopyrightPrints, Drawings, and Photographs
Color PalettePurchased by the John Herron Art Institute, now the Indianapolis Museum of Art, in 1930
The son of a British architect, Brangwyn was born in Bruges where his father was on assignment. He always maintained an attachment to the picturesque Belgian city. He also had an appreciation for working men, having labored himself on the docks and on tramp steamers to earn his early livelihood. Both sympathies are apparent in this portrayal of five men straining to tow a barge, etched on the spot in 1906 along one of Bruges' many canals.
"Each mind is dazed or deadened by the slow, plodding routine of automatic labour. The very creases in their clothes show the dogged repetition of the same heavy movements day after day. The realism is strongly grim, pathetic, and monumental."
-William Shaw-Sparrow, 1910
Exhibition Name
Venue
Dates
British Qualities: Works on Paper, 1875-1930
Indianapolis Museum of Art
February 16, 2008 - July 13, 2008
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