The Raymond Bradshaw Studio Collection

Bradshaw trained at the Westminster School of Art from 1936 to 1938 under the tutorship of Mark Gertler (1891-1939), Bernard Meninsky (1891-1950), Mervyn Peake (1911-1968), and Adrian Hill (1885-1977). His relationship with these artists remained close and Bradshaw was deeply affected by Gertler’s suicide, just one year after he had finished studying at Westminster. Only ten years later Meninsky succumbed to the same fate, Bradshaw was known to ponder this, and works such as ‘Ode to Meninsky’ have been exhibited in the past.

^{From left to right:}

^{Lot 146 | Raymond Henry Bradshaw (1918-1997)
Self-portrait
signed 'Raymond Bradshaw' l.l., with exhibition number '238' l.l. and label verso, oil on canvas
76 x 56cm, unframed}

^£500-700

^{Raymond Bradshaw at his easel}

Drawings by Bradshaw’s tutors are included in the collection and even the most delicate studies have been carefully preserved, turn to lots 162-167 and lot 175 for examples by Gertler, Peake, and Hill drawn in the years 1936 to 1938 (example below).

^{Lot 162 | *Mervyn Peake (1911-1968)
Study of a nude lying down
signed 'Peake' l.l., pen and ink
40 x 44cm, unframed}

^{£300 - 400}

Staff at Westminster School of Art (1936-1938)
Top left Kirkland Jamieson, top centre Mark Gertler, bottom right Eric Schilsky

Bradshaw took inspiration from ballet, music, theatre, and travel. His returned focus on ballet is evident in lots 147 and 152 (below left), as well as in his collecting habits, such as Dorothy King’s charming study of a ballerina adjusting her ribbons (lot 170 below right). He and Dorothy were great friends and shared models including ballerinas, often working together in her studio near the British Museum.

^{From left to right:} 

^{Lot 152 | Raymond Henry Bradshaw (1918-1997)
'Ballerina'; together with 'Portrait of a young woman' (not shown)
both signed 'Raymond H Bradshaw', the first dated '86', red pencil;}

^{Together with two life drawings by the artist (not shown)}

^{£200 - 300}

^{Lot 170 | Dorothy King (1907-1990)
Ballerina
signed and dated 'Dorothy King/ '56', pastel
45.5 x 33cm}

^{Together with two further examples by the artist (not shown)}

^{£200 - 300}

Bradshaw exhibited frequently at the Royal Society of British Artists and at the Royal Society of Portrait Painters. His connection with the RBA and Hesketh Hubbard Art Society (of which he was Vice-President) maintained his closeness to the artists Denys G. Wells, Dorothy King, and Adrian Hill, whose works also feature in the sale.

After serving in the RAF during the war, he taught and was Head of the Art Department at Bancroft’s School, where he himself had been educated (1928-35).

^{Lot 144 | Raymond Henry Bradshaw (1918-1997)
'Major M. A. Fry, Indian Parachute Battalion'
signed 'Raymond Bradshaw' and dated '37' l.r., also signed and dated verso, oil on canvas
76 x 55.5cm, unframed}

^£200-300

Highlights of the Bradshaw collection include his ‘Self-Portrait’ (lot 146 at top). Painted on the eve of the Second World War, Bradshaw looks out at us, youthful and pensive. The composition is rendered with loose, expressive strokes. Of further interest is the Portrait of Major M. A. Fry, Indian Parachute Battalion (lot 144 above). As well as the two works by Michael Wishart (1928-1966), who was a friend of Francis Bacon and Lucien Freud (lots 168 below, and 169).

^{Lot 168 | Michael Wishart (1928-1996)
Apple on Plate, 1975
signed 'M. Wishart' l.r., pen, ink and watercolour
15 x 11.5cm}

^{£300 - 500}