Edward Reginald Frampton
Encyclopedia
Edward Reginald Frampton (1870–1923) was an English
painter
who specialized in mural
s, specifically war memorials at churches. He painted in a flat, stately style, and was influenced by French Symbolism. He also worked in stained glass
, most probably learning from his father, Edward Frampton, who was a stained-glass artist. His work usually depicted symbolic subjects and landscapes; early in his career he made sculpture.
Early in his career he devoted himself to landscape painting; after a lengthy stay in France and Italy, and after seeing an exhibition of the collected works of Sir Edward Burne-Jones
he chose to concentrate on illustrating the human form. All his larger and more important compositions have been figure subjects. Mr. Frampton considered himself to have been influenced both by primitive
Italian painting
and the English Pre-Raphaelite design
, and also by the compositions of Pierre Puvis de Chavannes
.
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
who specialized in mural
Mural
A mural is any piece of artwork painted or applied directly on a wall, ceiling or other large permanent surface. A particularly distinguishing characteristic of mural painting is that the architectural elements of the given space are harmoniously incorporated into the picture.-History:Murals of...
s, specifically war memorials at churches. He painted in a flat, stately style, and was influenced by French Symbolism. He also worked in stained glass
Stained glass
The term stained glass can refer to coloured glass as a material or to works produced from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant buildings...
, most probably learning from his father, Edward Frampton, who was a stained-glass artist. His work usually depicted symbolic subjects and landscapes; early in his career he made sculpture.
Early in his career he devoted himself to landscape painting; after a lengthy stay in France and Italy, and after seeing an exhibition of the collected works of Sir Edward Burne-Jones
Edward Burne-Jones
Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, 1st Baronet was a British artist and designer closely associated with the later phase of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, who worked closely with William Morris on a wide range of decorative arts as a founding partner in Morris, Marshall, Faulkner, and Company...
he chose to concentrate on illustrating the human form. All his larger and more important compositions have been figure subjects. Mr. Frampton considered himself to have been influenced both by primitive
Primitivism
Primitivism is a Western art movement that borrows visual forms from non-Western or prehistoric peoples, such as Paul Gauguin's inclusion of Tahitian motifs in paintings and ceramics...
Italian painting
Art of Italy
The history of Italian art is in many ways also the history of Western art. After Etruscan civilization and especially the Roman Republic and Empire that dominated this part of the world for many centuries, Italy was central to European art during the Renaissance. Italy also saw European artistic...
and the English Pre-Raphaelite design
Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was a group of English painters, poets, and critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais and Dante Gabriel Rossetti...
, and also by the compositions of Pierre Puvis de Chavannes
Pierre Puvis de Chavannes
Pierre Puvis de Chavannes was a French painter, who became the president and co-founder of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts and whose work influenced many other artists.-Life:...
.
A notable feature of much of the artist's painting is the almost total absence of high lights and cast shadows. Such a mode of treatment, in the hands of a less capable draughtsman, might well produce a painful impression of feebleness or lack of definition. Not so, however, in the case of Mr. Frampton. With him, indeed, this diffused illumination is a matter of deliberate purpose. He adopts a subdued tone from a sense of decorative fitness, his aim being to ensure the flat effect and the subordination proper to mural backgrounds, as distinct from the meretricious illusion of prominent relief and receding distances, which disqualifies the average easel- picture from a place in any broad architectonic scheme. Mr. Frampton's compositions, on the contrary, are instinct with a restful and dignified serenity, no less satisfying than transcendental.
As typical of this phase of his work may be mentioned a large panel depicting a scene from the legend of St. Brendan. The incident is one with which all readers of Matthew Arnold's poems must be familiar — to wit, St. Brendan encountering Judas Iscariot on the iceberg. The quality of this picture recalls a forgotten chef- d'œuvre of Spencer Stanhope's, viz. The Waters of Lethe. The twilight atmosphere is the same in both cases, but there is this difference, that Mr. Frampton surpasses the deceased artist in technical mastery of "echo'
Further reading
- Holme, Charles (Ed.). The International Studio, Volume 66 (The International Studio, 1919).
External links
- E R Frampton (artcyclopedia.com)
- Image gallery (artmagick.com)