Ballerina

This painting’s subject matter is simple and quotidian - a ballet dancer rests for a moment before or after her performance, trying to grasp at a moment of much needed rest. Her face is cast in a peaceful expression with her eyes closed, and her arms cradle her ballet shoes absent-mindedly. The dancer is depicted as wearing a flouncy white dress and a delicate flower crown, with make up on her face. The daintiness of the outfit and makeup as well as the pastime of ballet suggests an innocent and femininity about the sitter. The untidy stack of magazines in the background and disordered odds and ends hints at the chaos backstage, and yet the woman remains in her moment of peace. 

The painting bears a distinctly muted colour palette of greys and off-whites, which contrasts with the pure white of the dancer’s outfit, separating her further fro her chaotic surroundings and ensuring that she is the focal point of the work. Her physiology is rendered very accurately, even in the reflection of the mirror - the accuracy of the angle of this reflection pays testament to the skill of Bradbury as an artist who focused on diverse elements of perspective. One of the most outstanding elements of the painting, however, is undeniably the rendering of the fabric of the dress and shoes. The silk is evidently shiny, despite hazy brushstrokes, and the transparency of the dresses’ sleeves is particularly realistic and yet remains stylised.

Arthur Royce Bradbury

Arthur Royce Bradbury was born in Preston, Lancashire, in 1892. In his youth, he served as a cadet in the Merchant Navy, often travelling trade routes to West Africa on The Waterwitch, the last trading square rigger in British service. Bradbury discovered his artistic skills during this time and completed many marine sketches and landscapes.

Bradbury then attended the St Johns Wood School of Art before moving to the Royal Academy School, where he first exhibited in 1913. At the time of this exhibition at the Royal Academy, Bradbury was living in Bournemouth, but shortly moved to Dorset and then to Poole. He was elected an Associate of the Royal West of England Academy in 1939 and exhibited portraits there, as well as at the Walkers Gallery, London, the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours, the Royal Society of British Artists, the Royal Institute of Oil Painters and the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool.

Arthur Royce Bradbury died in Poole in 1977, leaving behind a legacy as a prominent marine artist and portraitist. His work can be viewed in the Imperial War Museum, Poole Museum, Guernsey Museum, the National Maritime Museum, the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery, and the National Army Museum.