HELEN BRADLEY (1900-1979)

Garden Flowers



Oil on board, letter on rear
size 9" x 7" (23cms x 18cms)
Price on application

Provenance - Given to Daphne Foskett by the artist in 1966.

Helen Bradley paintings for sale are becoming difficult to find. She was born 20 November 1900 near Oldham, Lancashire and was interested in art all of her life, but it was not until she was in her sixties and her grandchildren were asking what life was like as a child, that she started painting the scenes she remembered of her own Edwardian Childhood. These narrative paintings were first exhibited at The Saddleworth Art Society in 1965, followed by a London exhibition in 1966. Helen never entirely lost the impulse to paint and, when living in London, made frequent trips to the British Museum. She was inspired by an exhibition of early Chinese painting and by the collection of Persian miniatures. In the 1960s she met L. S. Lowry who encouraged her in the creation of a narrative style based on her childhood memories and a personally expressive style finally began to emerge. Because of the provenance of this painting, we can be sure that this is one of the first paintings by Helen Bradley. The letter attached to the rear confirms that the painting was given to Daphne Foskett. The painting was then given to her daughter and on 2 December 2003, it was sold at Bonhams, Bond Street, London (lot73).

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