Herbert Badham

Herbert Badham was born in 1899 in Watsons Bay, a suburb of Sydney, Australia to Herbert Lewis Badham ({{circa|1870}}{{snd}}1937) and his wife Mary.[http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/21362/lot/13/ Bonhams: Herbert Badham (1899-1961) Travellers 1933][http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/6381/ Herbert Badham: Breakfast piece] Art Gallery of New South Wales[http://www.warmuseum.ca/cwm/exhibitions/artwar/artists/herbert-badham_e.shtml Herbert Badham] Canadian War Museum[http://www.artgalleryofballarat.com.au/explore-and-experience/collection/australian-collection/badham,-herbert.aspx Henry Badham: The vegetable shop] Art Gallery of Ballarat[http://www.cbusartcollection.com.au/artists/?id=6 Cbus: Herbert Badham 1899–1961] He was one of five children in the family. He enlisted in the Australian Royal Navy in 1917 to serve in World War I. From 1925 to 1938, he studied painting at the Julian Ashton Art School, where he was tutored by Julian Ashton, George Washington Lambert and Henry Gibbons.

He was a realist painter, and focused on painting scenes of everyday life.[http://www.warmuseum.ca/cwm/exhibitions/artwar/artworks/art28490_fairground_e.shtml The fairground, Sydney, 1944], Canadian War Museum "People in crowds, in the streets, in pubs, waiting, playing, watching others, travelling to and from work."{{Cite book |last=Dixon |first=Christine |title=Herbert Badham, 1899-1961 : an exhibition organised by the Wollongong City Gallery with assistance from the Regional Galleries Association of New South Wales / catalogue essay: Christine Dixon ; curator: Christine France. |publisher=Wollongong City Gallery |year=1987 |isbn=0959425039 |pages=4 |language=en}} His work was exhibited at the Society of Artists from 1927 to his death. Later, in 1939, his first solo exhibition took place at the Grosvenor Gallery, Sydney. A review of the exhibition described a collection of portraits in pencil and a series of oils. Of particular note, the work Travellers was described as "bustling plebian."{{Cite news |date=25 May 1939 |title=Herbert Badham: interesting painter |pages=4 |work=Sydney Morning Herald|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/17591372?searchTerm=herbert%20badham |access-date=8 July 2022}} In a similar vein, another review praised Badham's ability to paint "aspects of Sydney life which few painters have the courage to tackle."{{Cite news |date=25 May 1939 |title=Badham's Art Is Sincere |pages=38 |work=The Sun|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/230882140?searchTerm=herbert%20badham |access-date=10 July 2022}}

Badham taught painting at the East Sydney Technical College from 1938 to 1961. He published two books about Australian art,[http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/27170217?selectedversion=NBD2492824 National Library of Australia: Herbert Badham] A Study of Australian Art,[https://collection.sl.nsw.gov.au/record/74Vv0dpbWMvA A Study of Australian Art] 1949, and A Gallery of Australian Art,[https://collection.sl.nsw.gov.au/record/74VvoGg8RdvA A Gallery of Australian Art] 1954.

By April 1950 he was living at Darling Point Road, Darling Point.[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/231061413?searchTerm=%22“Herbert%20badham”%22&searchLimits=notWords|||requestHandler|||anyWords|||exactPhrase=“Herbert+badham”|||dateTo|||dateFrom|||sortby=dateAsc The Sun (Sydney) 16 April 1950, p.7] He married dressmaker Enid Wilson in Sydney in 1927.[https://familyhistory.bdm.nsw.gov.au/lifelink/familyhistory/search/result?3 New South Wales registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages] Their daughter, Chebi Badham, became an artist and animator.{{Cite web |last=State Library of New South Wales; Macquarie Street |first=Sydney |date=2018-03-09 |title=Domesticity |url=https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/collection-items/domesticity |access-date=2022-07-11 |website=State Library of NSW}}[https://collection.sl.nsw.gov.au/record/9Bv6Wl09 State Library of NSW. Chebi Badham interview by Deborah Beck, 16 May 2017]

Currently, two of his paintings are exhibited at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney.[http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/?artist_id=badham-herbert Art Gallery of New South Wales: Works by Herbert Badham] Another painting is found at the Art Gallery of Ballarat in Ballarat. Another painting is exhibited at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa.

He died on 24 September 1961. His obituary reported Badham died in Royal South Sydney Hospital on Sunday, aged 62. "Mr Badham, of Macleay Street Potts Point, was head teacher at the National Art School, East Sydney.{{Cite news |date=26 September 1961 |title=Death of Mr Badham |pages=5 |work=Sydney Morning Herald |issn=0312-6315}}

Paintings by Badham include:

• Self-portrait (early 1920s).[http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/OA22.1965/ Henry Badham: Self-portrait], Art Gallery of New South Wales
• Travellers (1933).
• Breakfast piece (1936).
• The fairground, Sydney (1944).
• The vegetable shop (1950).
• Domesticity (1959).[http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/22083/lot/1/ Bonhams: Domesticity, 1959]

National, State, and regional galleries across Australia holds works by Herbert Badham.

• The National Gallery of Australia holds two works including [https://searchthecollection.nga.gov.au/object?uniqueId=43112 The ferry] 1943.
• The Art Gallery of N.S.W. holds two works including [https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/OA22.1965/ Self portrait], (early 1920s)
• The State Library of N.S.W. holds nine works including [https://collection.sl.nsw.gov.au/record/1wNrZpxn/jpmQVMyK0lrBa Hazy morning] 1944.
• The National Gallery of Victoria holds two works including [https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/work/89880/ The night bus] 1943.
• The National Portrait Gallery hold [https://www.portrait.gov.au/portraits/1999.3/self-portrait-with-glove Self portrait with glove] 1939.
• The New England Regional Art Museum hold [https://www.hinton.neram.com.au/hyde-park Hyde Park] 1933.
• The Australian War Memorial hold [https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C167904 The fair ground, Sydney] 1944.

• Herbert Badham (1949), A Study of Australian Art (Sydney: Currawong Press).
• Herbert Badham (ed.) (1954), A Gallery of Australian Art (Sydney: Currawong Press).

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Category:1899 births

Category:1961 deaths

Category:Artists from Sydney

Category:Realist painters

Category:20th-century Australian non-fiction writers

Category:20th-century Australian male artists

Category:Julian Ashton Art School alumni

Category:Australian male painters

Category:20th-century Australian painters

Category:Australian modern painters