An Illustrated Life - Artist Brennan Seward
STANDING 6 FEET 4 INCHES TALL, WITH RED MUTTONCHOPS, and a penchant for dressing in full Highland regalia, kilt and all, Gordon Cummings, a big game hunter from Scotland, returned to the U.K. in 1848 with 27 metric tons of wildlife trophies from his excursion in Africa. The man known as the “Lion Hunter” then went on a lecture tour with spellbinding stories of stabbing a hippopotamus to death, battling a 13-foot python, and killing countless species that heretofore were relatively unknown to his fellow 19th-century countrymen.
Artist Brennan Seward’s first ancestor to arrive in Africa, a fellow Scotsman, met the “Lion Hunter.” Mesmerized by the romance and adventure of Africa, he found his way to what is now South Africa in 1867 and would later hunt elephants in Zimbabwe not far from where Brennan grew up. Armed with little more than a Victorian wanderlust, he acquired an ox wagon and a gun and started trading beads and hunting elephants. Because, as Brennan says, “Every piano in New York City needed ivory.”
Brennan’s ancestors would go on to be hunters, soldiers, and farmers, but it wasn’t idyllic. Misfortune abounded, from black water fever to other diseases that were especially lethal to Europeans. “Living in Africa at this time was often romanticized and forgotten are the hardships. Along with the great beauty and majesty comes deep tragedy,” says Brennan.
As a fourth-generation Zimbabwean, Brennan’s love and eye for nature were developed on holidays from boarding school. During summers, he traveled in the bush with his father, who ran a photography and bird-hunting safari outfit in addition to managing a large farm. His father taught him how to hunt and the importance of nature conservation. “We camped on the ground, beneath the stars, next to our old Land Rover,” he says. “It was exactly how you picture it.”
On a summer family safari, a bull elephant walked into their camp, setting forth a series of events that would change Brennan’s life at seven years old. Weighing 14,000 pounds, standing 13 feet tall, and capable of running 25 mph, the bull posed a potentially deadly situation. His mother’s first instinct was to grab him and go, but the odds of successfully dodging hubcap-sized feet weren’t in her favor, so she took him to the only place she could find, behind a fallen mahogany tree, in hopes the bull wouldn’t charge.
As they crouched behind the tree, the elephant curiously approached them, all 7 feet of his trunk slowly swaying, tusks stoically on display, his prehistoric eyes staring straight through them. Mother and son didn’t make a sound; they didn’t dare move an inch. The bull lowered his head so close to them that his mother softly said, “Look at his eyelashes; they’re so long. And look at the wrinkles in his skin.” They marveled at the sound of air traveling through his trunk, the size of his ears, and the intricate details on his primitive face. Momma did what mommas do best: she alleviated her son’s fear, even though she was afraid of elephants herself. “It was a very informative part of my life,” Brennan says. His art would forever be influenced by that moment.
When Brennan was 17 years old, he submitted an elephant drawing to Christie’s Auction House in London for the “Art for Survival” fundraiser, and it was accepted. He told his mother of the great news and how he’d love to be there when it went up for auction. Being a dutiful and loving mother, she mischievously whispered, “I have Dad’s credit card; let’s go.” She booked two tickets to London on the spot.
Brennan’s drawing sold for £1,500, a respectable amount for a first-time artist of his age. On the way home, he confided in his mother that he wanted to be a full-time artist when he got older. She unequivocally agreed to support his dream. “It was a special moment in my life to have her approval,” Brennan recalls.
The following year, Brennan’s family was forced off the farm, which was seized by liberator-turned tyrant Robert Mugabe, who violently confiscate millions of acres of land and sank Zimbabwe into the depths of economic despair. The family was given 24 hours to vacate their home.
Over the years the Seward family had developed friendships with families from Thomasville whom they’d met through their safari business. At the time the farm was confiscated, Brennan’s older brother was living in Thomasville. After the loss of their farm, Brennan continued to paint and sell his artwork and visited his brother. In fact, Brennan had his first art show at Thomas University in 2003 and was invited to the Plantation Wildlife Arts Festival for the first time in 2004. When asked what he loves about Thomasville, he says, “Southern people — they’re so hospitable, warm, and generous. Southern hospitality reminds me of growing up on our family’s farm in Zimbabwe. And the small-town lifestyle is appealing.”
Tragically, Brennan’s mother died shortly thereafter, and the Seward family lost their matriarch and a way of life that took several generations to build. “Her death broke the entire family,” Brennan says. “It scattered us to the winds.”
After her death, Brennan hitchhiked across the entire continent of Africa with his middle brother, from Cairo to Cape Town, with only a backpack. “I needed a walkabout — to get back into nature,” he says. He’d go on to study at the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute in China and marry his wife in 2014 before returning to Thomasville to exhibit at the Wildlife Arts Festival three more times, in 2015, 2016, and 2018. He’ll return to the festival again this fall, this time as the featured artist.
Over time, Brennan experimented with photography, watercolors, and oil painting. He now mostly focuses on large-scale pen and ink drawings of wildlife and nature, especially from Africa. Using pens with tips as small as 0.1 mm (the size of a human hair), his attention to detail is shockingly refined, but then again, it’s no wonder he can perfectly illustrate the eyelashes of an elephant.
Bradley A. Evans is a writer from Atlanta, though his heart resides in St. Simons Island, Georgia, and Jackson Hole, Wyoming. He enjoys golf, squash, and fly fishing when he’s not traveling or myopically competing in a game of backgammon. He is a graduate of the University of Georgia and a devout Deadhead.
*This article was published in issue #20 of THOM Magazine - 12/1/2023
