William Bradford was an American artist who represented the style of Romanticism. He was known as a marine painter who started his career creating the landscapes from the naval architecture of the port of New Bedford.
Background
William Bradford was born on April 30, 1823, in Fairhaven, Massachusetts, United States. He was a son of Quakers Bradford and Hannah Kempton.
William Bradford, a politician and governor of the Plymouth Colony, was his ancestor.
When William was eleven, his family moved to the city of New Bedford with the intention to set up the whaling business. The young boy met the world of whaleships and seafaring that influenced the choice of the content for his future artworks.
Education
William Bradford completed his general education at the age of sixteen.
As to artistic training, Bradford was an autodidact artist developing his skills by painting the aquatic views and ships.
The artist was somehow influenced professionally by Albert van Beest. He encouraged Bradford to bring to his canvases more dramatic effects.
Career
William Bradford started his career at the early 1840s from the work in his father’s business, then at a dry-goods store in New Bedford. In 1846, he started his own clothing business, opening the clothing store which soon transformed into a fabric.
At the beginning of the new decade, the business failed and William Bradford devoted all his time to painting. The first commercial success in the field came to the artist in 1852 when he sold his first canvas titled ‘Whaleship Fireh Perry off Clark’s Point, New Bedford’ for twenty-five dollars. Many commissions followed and the next year, Bradford founded a studio in Fairhaven supporting one more in Boston.
In 1854, William Bradford hosted in his New Bedford’s studio the Dutch painter Albert Van Beest with who he had collaborated till his death in 1860. The artists worked on such paintings, as ‘The Port of New Bedford from Crow Island’, ‘View of Shipping in New Bedford Harbor’, ‘New York Yacht Club Regatta off New Bedford’ and ‘Boston Harbor’. Three years later after the meeting, Bradford presented his canvases at the exhibition organized by Albert Bierstadt and John Hopkins.
The first year of the following decade became rich in events for Bedford. The artist rented a studio in Boston and took an active part in the artistic life of the city. The same time, he produced one of his important marine works, ‘Shipwreck off Nantucket’. The painting was met with good reviews and provided Bedford with acclaim.
After, he collaborated with the artist William M. Hart travelling to Grand Manan and the Bay of Fundy. It was the time of changes in Bedford’s canvases which became more dramatic in subjects. The artworks resulted from the trip were successfully presented at the Boston Artists’ Reception and at the artist’s studio.
Throughout the 1860s, Bedford traveled annually to the coast of Labrador supported financially by Boston physician Dr. John C. Sharp. Accompanied by photographers, the artist created the depictions of the North, one of which, ‘Sealers Crushed by Icebergs’ of 1866, brought him the international recognition and the support from the businessman Le Grand Lockwood. The latter sponsored Bedford’s artistic trip to Greenland.
In 1871, William Bradford began his collaboration with the Century Club which organized regular exhibitions of his works. His ‘Sealers Crushed’ was noted by Queen Victoria who invited the artist to present it at Windsor Castle. Later, she commissioned Bradford a painting and an album of his albumen photographs from the Arctic. The project was completed two years later. Thereafter, Bradford founded a studio in San Francisco.
The following years, the artist pursued his artistic trips visiting Yosemite Valley, the Mariposa Groves, Mounts Shasta, Hood and Ranier.
At the beginning of the new decade, Bradford settled down in New York City where he had a studio in Manhattan. He spent the rest of his life there.
From 1885, William Bradford gave lectures on his arctic trips at the American Geographical Society and around the United States. Besides, he created some etching replicas of his earlier canvases.
The last exhibition where the artist presented his canvases became the Minneapolis Industrial Exposition of 1886.
Whaler and Fishing Vessels near the Coast of Labrador
Sloops and Schooners at Evening Calm
Rainbow over the Arctic
Seascape. Cliffs at Sunset
Sunset at the Strait of Belle Isle
Rocky Shore
Icebound Ship
The Coast of Labrador
The Archway
Fishermen off the Coast of Labrador
In the Arctic
The Sun Sets, Perce Rock, Gaspe, Quebec
Fishing Boats on the Bay of Fundy
The Kennebec River, Waiting for Wind and Tide
Coastal Scene
Stowing Sails off Fairhaven
Rock Study at Nahant, Massachusetts
The Port of New Bedford from Crow Island
photo
Hunting by Steam in Melville Bay
Membership
National Academy of Design
,
United States
1874
Connections
William Bradford married Mary Swett Breed on December 15, 1847, in Lynn, Massachusetts at the Salem Monthly Meeting of Friends. The family produced two daughters named Esther and Mary Eastman. Esther didn’t survive her childhood and died at the age of six in 1856.
The Art of William Bradford 1850-1890 (100 Color Paintings)
The volume features one hundred nautical themed paintings by William Bradford including all nautical and arctic scenes of Whaling/Fishing Boats, Icebergs and Beautiful Greenland and Nova Scotia Coasts