William Bradford Biography

William Bradford (1823-1892) was an American romanticist painter, photographer and explorer, originally from Fairhaven, Massachusetts, near New Bedford. His early work focused on portraits of the many ships in New Bedford Harbour. In 1858, his painting New Bedford Harbour at Sunset was included in Albert Bierstadt's landmark New Bedford Art Exhibition.

Bradford is known for his paintings of ships and Arctic seascapes. From 1861 to 1866, he made excursions north to Labrador with Dr. Isaac Israel Hayes. He was one of the first American painters to portray the frozen regions of the north, for example, his contemporary Frederic Edwin Church had painted The Icebergs in 1861; Albert Bierstadt was also active in the same period. Photographer William H. Pierce accompanied Bradford on his 1864 expedition, which resulted in the first iceberg photographs taken in arctic regions.

With funds provided by LeGrand Lockwood, Bradford traveled to Greenland in 1869, his farthest northern excursion, reaching eventually as far as 75° north latitude aboard the steamship Panther, accompanied by photographers John L. Dunmore and George Critcherson. Upon his return, Bradford spent two years in London, where he published an account of his trips to the north, entitled The Arctic regions, illustrated with photographs taken on an art expedition to Greenland; with descriptive narrative by the artist. In 1874, he was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate member.

He adopted their techniques and became highly interested in the way light touches water and how it affects the appearance of water surfaces and the general atmospherics of a painting. He compositionally balanced many of his paintings by creating a counter-subject and by placing darker colors around the edges, framing and counteracting the centre's better-lit subject.