Will H. Bradley

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For the English painter, see
William Bradley (1801-1857)
.

Will H. Bradley
Will H. Bradley (1896)
Born
William Henry Bradley

(1868-07-10)July 10, 1868
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
DiedJanuary 25, 1962(1962-01-25) (aged 93)
La Mesa, California, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Known forIllustration, graphic design, typography, printing, writing, film
MovementArt Nouveau

William Henry Bradley (July 10, 1868 – January 25, 1962) was an American Art Nouveau illustrator, artist and film director. Nicknamed the "Dean of American Designers" by The Saturday Evening Post,[1] he was the highest-paid American artist of the early 20th century.

Biography

Will H. Bradley. His portrait - drawn by himself in 1896

Bradley was born July 10, 1868, in

Chicago, Illinois,[3] where he held a few brief jobs as a wood engraver and typographer before dedicating himself to freelance graphic design. He moved back to Massachusetts and set up the Wayside Press, where he served as an illustrator, editor, typographer, designer, and press manager for a magazine he named Bradley, His Book
. The periodical usually contained compilations of poetry, stories, and sketches, and his work received a warm reception. He had achieved financial success, but the stress of managing so many projects at once began to damage his health, and he collapsed at the age of 28. He recovered quickly, but he was forced to sell the Wayside Press.

From 1895[4] to about 1900, Bradley produced some of the elaborate posters and full-page magazine advertisements commissioned by ink manufacturer Ault & Wiborg; his designs have been collected by noted institutions, including Library of Congress[5] and the University of Delaware.[6]

He later worked as a consultant for the

Collier's Weekly. He worked briefly with children's books, then for William Randolph Hearst's film division as a supervising art director and assistant director on the Wharton Brothers' serial films Beatrice Fairfax (1916) and Patria (1917).[7]

Bradley founded his own production company, Dramafilms, and went on to write, produce and direct his own films, including Bitter Fruit (1920),[8][9] Moongold (1920) and The Tame Cat (1921). In 1954, The Typophiles published a memoir of Bradley's life called Will Bradley: His Chap Book, a limited edition of 650 copies. The same year, he won the AIGA medal, the highest honor for graphic designers. He was a prolific artist and designer up until his death at age 94.

Artistic style

Cover for The Inland Printer (1894)
Poster for The Chap Book (1894)

Bradley's artistic style is considered a branch of

Arts and Crafts Movement and Japanese block printing. His work was often compared to that of his English contemporary, Aubrey Beardsley
, so much so that some critics dismissed him as simply “The American Beardsley.” Bradley was already an established artist by the time Beardsley's designs became popular in England in 1894. Bradley's primary medium was
Toulouse-Lautrec
, but Bradley is credited with popularizing the two-dimensional poster style in the United States.

poster forVictor Bicycles

Typefaces

Though Bradley, evidently, did not do the actual cutting of type matrixes, many types were based on his designs.

Writings

  • Will Bradley: His Chapbook The Typophiles 1955 ASIN B0013090XK

See also

Notes

  1. hdl:2027/mdp.39015014553716
    . Retrieved June 10, 2015.
  2. ISBN 1-55595-224-0
    .
  3. ^ Meggs, Philip B.; Purvis, Alston W. (2012), Meggs' History of Graphic Design (5th ed.), Hoboken NJ: John Wiley & Sons Inc
  4. ^ "Ault & Wiborg – Will H. Bradley, an American Artist: Selections from the Gordon A. Pfeiffer Collection". Retrieved September 26, 2022.
  5. ^ "Search results for Ault, Available Online". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved September 26, 2022.
  6. ^ "Ault & Wiborg – Will H. Bradley, an American Artist: Selections from the Gordon A. Pfeiffer Collection". Retrieved September 26, 2022.
  7. ^ Pizzitola, Louis (2013), Hearst Over Hollywood: Power, Passion, and Propaganda in the Movies, New York: Columbia University Press
  8. ^ Lindsay, Martin S. Bitter Fruit - 1920 - Film by Will H. Bradley Archived August 9, 2019, at the Wayback Machine at willbradley.com. Retrieved 09 Jun 2015.
  9. ^ “Movies are to add fame to Tarpon Springs,” Tampa Morning Tribune (Tampa, FL), Fri, 28 Feb 1919, pg B-9.
  10. ISBN 0-500-20273-7

References

Further reading

External links

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