This biography from the Archives of AskART:
| Henry Edward Bedford (1860-1932)
Henry Edward Bedford was born in Brooklyn, New York on March 3, 1860 to Alfred and Sarah Jane Dean Bedford. He received an extensive education in both New York and Europe. In 1876, at the age of sixteen, Bedford attended the Heatherley School of Fine Art in Chelsea, founded in 1845. Some of the school’s illustrious alumni include Burne-Jones, Rossetti, Millais, Leighton, Flint, Solomon, and Sickert.
Bedford’s studied painting with James W. Whittaker and William L. Anderson in the U.K. and sculpture with William O. Partridge in Paris. His formal education also included post-graduate work at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland.
The artist belonged to the prestigious Langham Art Club in London along with fellow painters Arthur Rackham and Sir John Tenniel. In addition, Bedford was a member of the Royal Water Colour Club and exhibited at the Royal Society of British Artists and the Royal Academy in England. A reference book on Victorian artists reports Bedford as actively painting in England in the early 1890s. In the United States, the New York artist was an exhibiting member of the Salmagundi Club.
Little is known about Bedford’s personal life. According to genealogical records, the artist married his first wife, Florence Taylor, in December, 1884. She gave birth to a son in February, 1886 and died shortly thereafter. Bedford and his second wife, Alice Milne, also had a daughter. Apparently, the Bedford family was part of Brooklyn’s elite society as reflected by the lengthy announcement of the engagement of the artist’s son, Henry Edward Jr., in the New York Times.
Henry Bedford was a true “Renaissance man” who was proficient in diverse fields of interest. In addition to being a painter, sculptor, writer, lecturer and teacher, Bedford designed the massive clock in the lobby of Grand Central Terminal in New York City.
The artist was best known for his studies of the Maine coast, where he maintained a summer house in Wiscasset for many years. The American Art Annual reported Bedford’s sudden demise on October 29, 1932 on the train ride from Maine to Brooklyn. The death notice stated that “… he was especially fond of reproducing the scenery of Maine, and his landscapes and marines won him much praise from critics…” Source: American Art Annual, vol. 29, 1932-33.
Known examples of the artist’s work include March Maine Woods shown at the Salmagundi Club bi-annual thumb-box exhibition; Winter Sunshine, Maine Woods exhibited at the Salmagundi Club on Feb 11, 1920; and Tall Ship with an old Salmagundi exhibition label and an artist’s inscription on the verso, which priced the painting at three-hundred dollars.
References for the artist include: (a) Who Was Who in American Art by P. H. Falk, 1999; (b) Victorian Painters: The Text by C. Wood, C. Newall, M. Richardson, 2008; (c) Maine Library Bulletin, volumes 8-13 by the Maine Library Commission (1899-1921); (d) American Art Annual, volume 17, 1920; (e) American Art Annual, volume 29, 1932-33; and (f) other online sources such as The New York Times archives and genealogical / census records on ancestry.com.
Compiled and submitted by Tina Kasper of Pelham, New York (copyright 2012).
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