Dudley Hardy

Dudley Hardy

Today poster, Yellow Girl, from the "Les maîtres de l'affiches" series
Born 15 January 1867
Sheffield, Yorkshire
Died 11 August 1922
London, England
Education Düsseldorf Academy, Antwerp Academy
Known for painting, drawing, illustration
A Gaiety Girl from the "Les Maitre de L'Affiches" series (c 1895)

Dudley Hardy, RI, ROI, RBA, RMS, PS, (b. Sheffield, Yorkshire, 15 January 1867 – d. London, 11 August 1922), was an English painter and illustrator.

Hardy was the eldest son of the marine painter Thomas Bush Hardy,[1] under whose influence and tutelage he first learned to draw and paint. In 1882 he attended the Düsseldorf Academy where he remained for three years. After a further two years' study in Paris and at Antwerp Academy he returned to England to live and work in London.[2][3]

In 1885 Hardy began exhibiting at the Royal Academy, an association that lasted to his death. His painting, Sans Asile (1889), a view of rough sleepers in Trafalgar Square, was exhibited at the Paris Salon,[4] and the Royal Society of British Artists Gallery in 1893; it was this painting that established his reputation. Sans Asile and his 1889 painting Dock Strike[5] (London Dock Strike), were part of a wider artistic and statistical examination highlighting London poverty.[6]

The preferred subjects for his work became the Middle East and Brittany; painting scenes of desert life and Breton peasantry. Although not visiting the Sudan he became a 'War Artist' for the 1890s Sudanese War, providing illustrations for London periodicals. His interest in illustration led to the production of French graphic influenced poster imagery, most notably the Yellow Girl advertisement for Today magazine, and Gaiety Girls,[7] a series of posters depicting actresses of the Gaiety Theatre. Further illustrations were for the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company and the Savoy Theatre.[8] Much of Hardy's illustrative work is held at the Victoria and Albert Museum.[2][3][9]

In the early 1900s he produced a range of comical postcards,[10] and in 1909 a series of caricatures for the souvenir programme of the Doncaster Aviation Meeting, England's first airshow.[11]

Hardy joined his friend George Haité as a founder member of the London Sketch Club; and became the club's president.[10] He later joined the Eccentric Club.

Dudley Hardy died of heart failure in 1922, and was buried at Woking in Surrey.[12]

Publications

References

  1. Thomas Bush Hardy Vallejo Gallery; retrieved 17 April 2011
  2. 2.0 2.1 Dudley Hardy (1867–1922) Invaluable.com; retrieved 17 April 2011
  3. 3.0 3.1 Dudley Hardy Lynda Cotton Gallery; retrieved 17 April 2011
  4. Current opinion, Volume 17, p. 219; Current Literature Pub. Co, 1895; retrieved 17 April 2011
  5. Dock Strike Getty images (2008); retrieved 17 April 2011
  6. Borzello, Frances (1987); Civilizing Caliban: Misuse of Art, 1875–1980 – p. 22; Camden Press ISBN 0-7102-0675-5; retrieved 18 April 2011
  7. Society – Women and the family Victoria and Albert Museum "Victorian Vision" exhibition; V&A Publications; retrieved 18 April 2011
  8. Mr. Dudley Hardy’s Savoy Posters The Poster; retrieved 17 April 2011
  9. Poster for D'Oyly Carte Opera Company's 'Yeoman of the Guard' Victoria and Albert Museum collections; retrieved 18 April 2011
  10. 10.0 10.1 Dudley Hardy Postcard Artist About Postcards; retrieved 17 April 2011
  11. Dudley Hardy: "Doncaster Aviation Meeting Souvenir Programme" Science and Society Picture Library; retrieved 18 April 2011
  12. Clarke, John M.; London's Necropolis, A Guide to Brookwood Cemetery, Sutton Publishing, Stroud, Gloucestershire, 2004

External links

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