William Bradford (American, 1823 to 1892)
William Bradford was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, in 1823, and started painting in 1852. From his studio overlooking the harbor, Bradford painted portraits of the ships that were coming into New Bedford as part of the lucrative whaling business. He continued this type of painting in Boston, where he painted much larger clipper ships. In 1854, Bradford decided to focus more on marine scenes, coastal views, and scenes of ships in distress. In the 1860s, he embarked on several voyages to Newfoundland, Labrador, and the Arctic. While on these voyages, Bradford made hundreds of oil sketches and drawings, and took numerous photographs to use when he returned to his studio. Bradford spent considerable time in England from 1871-1874, where he worked on a painting for Queen Victoria. He enjoyed much success in England. Upon his return to the United States, Bradford started painting views of Yosemite, the Sierra Nevada, and other western sites.
Information courtesy of Skinner Inc. and Richard C. Kugler, Director Emeritus of the New Bedford Whaling Museum
William Bradford was born and raised in Fairhaven, Massachusetts, across the harbor from New Bedford, the home to the nation’s largest whaling fleet. In 1852, after a failed clothing retail venture, a demise caused by his own admission because he “painted too much,” he took up painting ship portraits as a profession. In 1854 he set up a studio in Fairhaven, where he collaborated with the Dutch artist Albert Van Beest, who became a mentor and teacher until his death in 1860. Bradford accepted commissions from local mariners, and, following a standard formula of port painters of the time, he accurately and painstakingly depicted the whaleships of New Bedford and Fairhaven and eventually the clipper ships of Boston.
In the 1860s, Bradford’s interests shifted northward, and he began traveling to Labrador, Nova Scotia and Greenland to paint and photograph the arctic regions. He published a book about these travels in London and in 1882 received a royal commission from Queen Victoria. Bradford eventually set up a studio in San Francisco to paint the natural wonders of the American west. He later returned east to New York City, where he died in 1892.
Information courtesy of Skinner, Inc., March 2010.
William Bradford began his career painting ship portraits in New Bedford, Massachusetts, across the harbor from his birthplace of Fairhaven. In 1861 he traveled to Labrador to study and paint icebergs. He returned to the Arctic several times, and in 1869, he set out on his most ambitious voyage. With the financial backing of a New York businessman, Bradford chartered his own bark, the Panther, a converted sealing vessel and enlisted the help of two Boston photographers who documented the trip, while he sketched and painted. The result was hundreds of sketches and more than 300 photographs of arctic scenes, 141 of which were included in his 1873 book, The Arctic Regions, published in London. His body of work that resulted from his Arctic voyages gained Bradford worldwide acclaim, so much so that Queen Victoria commissioned him to paint an Arctic scene that was shown at the Royal Academy in 1875. Afterward he traveled extensively giving lectures and slide shows about the Arctic. He eventually opened a studio San Francisco to paint the natural wonders of the American West, but it is his Arctic scenes that remain his legacy.
Information courtesy of Skinner Inc., November 2009.