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BACON, Francis (1909–1992). Born of English parents in Dublin, he had little conventional education, and in 1925 came to London where he started as an interior decorator and designer of furniture. He visited Paris and Berlin, 1927–8, and began to paint, taking up oils in 1928. Self-taught, he was advised by his friend ROY DE MAISTRE. By 1931 he was painting full-time, and had a Crucifixion reproduced in Herbert Read’s book Art Now. He lost confidence during the later 1930s and worked in Civil Defence during the war, resuming painting about 1944. His Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion, 1944 (TATE), created a sensation when shown at the LEFEVRE GALLERY in 1945. Since the mid- 1950s his work has been regularly exhibited internationally (Grand Palais, Paris, 1972; the Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1975; the Tate Gallery, 1985) and acquired by most major museums around the world. He painted portraits of friends, figure compositions and fantasies including animals, often in intense colour, and usually suggesting involuntary movement. Executed with a bewildering technical virtuosity, his work tended to become more freely painted, but his essential subject – a pessimistic view of the human condition – did not fundamentally change over the years. He used famous paintings by former artists, stills from films and published photographs as a source of inspiration; the resultant images are dionysian, violent and pathetic, evocative of alienation, horror and suffering.
LIT: Interviews with Francis Bacon, David Sylvester, Thames & Hudson, 1980; Francis Bacon, Michel Leiris, Thames & Hudson, 1987.
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BADMIN, Stanley Roy, RWS, RE, ARCA (1906–1989). Painter of the English countryside and architecture in watercolours; illustrator, etcher and lithographer. He studied at CAMBERWELL SCHOOL OF ART and at the RCA under SCHWABE, MILLARD and TRISTRAM. He exhibited mainly at the FINE ART SOCIETY, the 21 Gallery, the RWS, RE and at the RA 1930–68. Elected RE and RWS in 1935, his work is represented in public collections including the V & A. He worked for the RECORDING BRITAIN Scheme and his many illustrations include the Shell Guide to Trees and Shrubs, numerous Puffin Picture Books and Highways and Byways in Essex, Macmillan and Co., 1939. His finely detailed work accurately recorded the appearance and life of the country as well as some London scenes.
LIT: S.R. Badmin and the English Landscape, Chris Beetles, Collins, 1985.
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BAILEY, Alfred Charles (b. 1883). Landscape painter in watercolours. Son of the engineer Wilfred Bailey, he studied at Brighton School of Art and with Louis Grier. He exhibited mainly at the Goupil Gallery but also showed at the RBA, IS, LS and the REDFERN GALLERY. Between 1909 and 1919 he lived at St Ives and was a member of the St Ives Arts Club. His work was reproduced in Apollo and Design and Drawing.
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BAILLIE, William, SSA, PRSW, RSA, GI (b. 1923). Painter of flowers, landscapes, town-scapes and still-life in watercolours and oils. Born in Edinburgh, he studied at EDINBURGH COLLEGE OF ART 1941–2 and 1947–50, and in 1955 he visited Canada where he travelled widely and worked with A.Y. Jackson. He has exhibited regularly in Scotland and was elected SSA in 1951, RSW in 1963, PRSW in 1974, RSA in 1979 and GI in 1986, and he has also shown at the Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh, in 1982 and 1986. He has exhibited in London, including Gallery 10, and internationally. His work is represented in the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh. He uses a fluid technique and rich colour.
LIT: Arts Review, Vol.27, No.7, p.188, 4 April 1975.
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BAINES, Frederick Harry (1910–1995). A painter of landscapes, portraits and figure compositions, he was trained at MANCHESTER SCHOOL OF ART, and first worked in the theatre with Joan Littlewood. He also painted murals for public buildings including part of the ceiling of Buxton Opera House. During the Second World War he served in India, and his first one-man show was at India House following his demobilization, when he settled in London. He travelled in France, Greece and Italy, where he became friendly with Renato Guttuso, who influenced both his style in some degree and his commitment to political expression in art; he became a member of the Communist Party for a period. His work figured in the ‘Forgotten Fifties’ exhibition (1984) at Sheffield Art Gallery and the Camden Art Centre. His work approach was bold, straightforward, and founded on firm draughtsmanship.
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BAIRD, Edward McEwan (1904–1949). Painter of portraits, figures and landscapes in oils, watercolours, tempera, pastels and chalk. Born in Montrose, Scotland, where he lived and worked, he studied at GLASGOW SCHOOL OF ART 1923–7, winning the Newbery Medal and a travelling scholarship to Italy. He exhibited at the RA in 1932, 1940 and 1941 and his work is represented in collections including Glasgow Art Gallery. His work was little known until 1968 when an exhibition was organized by the Scottish Arts Council. An OFFICIAL WAR ARTIST in the Second World War, he was married to Anne Fairweather in 1945. His work was influenced by Renaissance painting and later by his interest in SURREALISM and optics. Intellectually controlled and detailed, his work was meticulously painted and often re-worked.
LIT: Exhibition catalogues for the Scottish Arts Council, Edinburgh, 1968, and for the Montrose Public Library, 1981.
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BAKER, Charles Henry Collins, NEAC (1880–1959). Painter of landscapes and coastal scenes in oils; author and art critic. He studied at the RA SCHOOLS and exhibited mainly at the NEAC (member 1921, Hon. Secretary 1921–5) as well as at the LS, the RA in 1907, in Manchester and at the GROSVENOR GALLERY. His work is represented in collections including the Manchester City Art Gallery. Art critic for Outlook and the Saturday Review, he was Surveyor of Pictures to HM the King, Keeper and Secretary of the National Gallery, 1914–32, and from 1932 Head of Research at the Huntington Library, California. In 1949 he returned to England. His many publications on art range from studies on painters such as Lely and Kneller (Philip Allan, London, 1922) to catalogues of major collections. His paintings depicted subjects with a sense of design and clarity of form.
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BAKER, Gladys Marguerite, SWA (b. 1889). Painter of figures, portraits and still-life in oils; decorator. Born in Bloomsbury she was educated at Queen’s College, London, ST JOHN’S WOOD SCHOOL OF ART and the RA SCHOOLS where she won a graphic prize and a silver medal for composition in colour. She exhibited at the RA, RI, RBA and NPS, as well as the IS and SWA where she became a member in 1932. She also showed her work in the provinces as well as New York and Stockholm. Her paintings range from atmospheric and fluid oil studies to RA paintings such as The Restaurant which records an everyday scene with some detail and humour.
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BALL, Martin, LG (b. 1948). Painter of non-figurative work in acrylic and mixed media. He studied at Loughborough College of Art 1966–7, the CENTRAL SCHOOL 1967–70, and the RCA 1970–3, and he has exhibited in London galleries since 1974, including the Ian Birksted Gallery in 1979, as well as at the RA and the LG (member 1981). He has shown in the provinces, including the Axiom Galleries, Cheltenham, in 1984, and widely in group exhibitions. His work is represented in collections including the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. He has taught at Newcastle Polytechnic since 1979 and his many awards include a scholarship to Kent State University, Ohio, in 1972. His painterly work combines geometric forms with gestural, intuitive brushmarks.
LIT: ‘Viewpoints’, Artscribe (UK), No.5, pp. 14–15, February 1977; exhibition catalogue, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, 1979.
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BALL, Robert, RBSA, ARE, ARCA, FRSA (b. 1918). Painter of landscapes, figures and architecture in oils; etcher and engraver. He attended Birmingham Junior School of Art, Birmingham College of Art under H. Smith 1933–40, and the RCA under R. Austin and M. Osborne 1940–2. In 1937 he won a British Institution Scholarship in Engraving. He exhibited in Birmingham and at the RA, RE, NEAC and RBSA, being elected ARE in 1943, ARBSA in 1943, RBSA in 1949 and FRSA in 1950. He taught painting, drawing and anatomy at Birmingham College of Art 1942–53, and in 1953 he became Principal of Stroud School of Art. He exhibited at the RA 1939–85 as a painter and engraver, showing oils, aquatints and wood engravings many of landscape subjects, e.g. Mrs Barclay’s Pond, Harborne, RA, 1953.
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BALL, Robin, ARCA (1910–1979). Painter of figures in oils, watercolours and collages. He studied at Hastings School of Art and the RCA. He exhibited at the RA and in London and provincial galleries. His work is represented in public collections (e.g. IWM). He taught at West Surrey College of Art 1946–75. His early work recorded contemporary life in an organized style. Later works used oil and collage to establish rich texture and colour.
LIT: See the exhibition catalogue, Connaught Brown, London, 1987.
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BALLARD, Arthur (1915–1994). Best known as a painter of abstracted landscapes, he first studied at Liverpool College of Art. He saw active service in the Middle East during the Second World War, and joined the staff of the Liverpool College afterwards, where he taught until his retirement. His topographical studies were included in the post-war ‘Recording Merseyside’ exhibition at the Bluecoat School. A cottage he bought in North Wales was the base from which he painted dark, austere and powerful stylized landscapes (for example, Farm, c.1950, Walker Art Gallery). He exhibited regularly until the early 1960s at ROLAND, BROWSE & DELBANCO; the increasingly de Stael-influenced abstraction of his work following a six-month sabbatical in Paris (1957) attracted many collectors. During the later 1960s his work changed, influenced by Pop Art, as in his Punch and Judy series. Among the students he encouraged were Stuart Sutcliffe and John Lennon.
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BALMFORD, Hurst (b. 1871). Painter of landscapes and portraits in oils and watercolours. Born in Huddersfield, he attended the RCA, London, and the ACADÉMIE JULIAN, Paris. He exhibited in London at the RA and in Scotland at the RSA as well as in the provinces. He was Head of Morecambe School of Art and for a time he lived at St Ives where he painted Cornish landscapes. A Cornish Creek, 1934–39 (Manchester City Art Gallery), shows his strong treatment of a picturesque scene in which concern for detail and recession is combined with confident technique and a sense of surface design.
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BANKS, Robert, MC (b. 1911). Painter of architecture and gardens in watercolours. First trained as an architect, he studied at the Architectural Association, London, and then served with the Royal Horse Artillery. Until 1957 he worked as an architect and town planner and in 1959 he had his first solo exhibition at the LEICESTER GALLERIES. Since then he has exhibited at leading London galleries as well as in New York, Rome and Gallipoli. His paintings reflect his architectural training: they show churches and streets, often in Italy, represented with great exactitude. Some works are ‘baroque fantasies’ placing actual buildings and details in new combinations, but all are unpeopled and strongly lit.
LIT: See the exhibition review in Apollo, April 1980.
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Bankside Gallery. Home to the ROYAL WATERCOLOUR SOCIETY and the ROYAL SOCIETY OF PAINTER-PRINTMAKERS, it is situated on the Thames opposite St Paul’s Cathedral. Regular exhibitions of member’s works are held, as well as a full programme of other ...
