Herbert Edward Badham Paintings & Artwork for Sale | Herbert Edward Badham Art Value Price Guide

Nov. 28, 2023
Herbert Badham (1899-1961) (Pirates and Shipwreck), 1932
Est: $10,000 - $15,000
Herbert Badham (1899-1961) (Pirates and Shipwreck), 1932 signed and dated upper right: 'H BADHAM / '32' oil on board 34.0 x 29.5cm (13 3/8 x 11 5/8in).
Bonhams
Nov. 21, 2023
§ HERBERT BADHAM 1899-1961 Sketch for The Ferry (1943) oil on canvasboard 36.5 x 29.5 cm
Est: $20,000 - $30,000
§ HERBERT BADHAM 1899-1961 Sketch for The Ferry (1943) oil on canvasboard 36.5 x 29.5 cm PROVENANCE Herbert Badham, Sydney Macquarie Galleries, Sydney (label verso) Private Collection, Sydney Fine Art, Lawsons, Sydney, 7 February 2019, lot 546, illustrated Private Collection, Sydney, acquired from the above
Smith & Singer
May. 03, 2023
HERBERT BADHAM, NUDE MODEL, 1934
Est: $40,000 - $60,000
HERBERT BADHAM (1899 - 1961) NUDE MODEL, 1934 oil on canvas on board 39.5 x 34.0 cm signed and dated lower left: H. BADHAM ‘34 PROVENANCE Private collection Leonard Joel, Melbourne, 8 November 1989, lot 44 (as ‘The Model’) Private collection Leonard Joel, Melbourne, 31 July 1990, lot 246 (as ‘The Striped Cloth’) Private collection, Melbourne Thence by descent Private collection, Melbourne EXHIBITED probably: Herbert Badham, Grosvenor Galleries, Sydney, May 1939, cat. 12 (as ‘Nude Study’) LITERATURE Ashton, H., ‘Herbert Badham. Interesting Painter’, Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney, 25 May 1939, p. 4 (as ‘Nude Study’) ESSAY It seems more than likely that this painting is the work first exhibited as Nude Study, 1934 in Herbert Badham’s solo exhibition held in 1939 at Sydney’s Grosvenor Gallery. The exhibition was opened by Sir Marcus Clark and reviewed by the critic Howard Ashton who, after commenting on some of Badham’s compositions being deliberately overcrowded with detail, turns to Nude Model ‘as a work which shows what the artist can do when he is content to express things more simply and broadly.’1 Indeed, compared to works such as Travellers, 1933 or Hyde Park, 1933 which contain a wealth of detail as Badham strives to capture the complexity of everyday life, Nude Model exhibits a quiet classicism indicative of the training he had received at the Julian Ashton Art School. Under the tutelage George Lambert, Henry Gibbons and Julian Ashton, Badham, along with fellow students William Dobell, Douglas Dundas, Charles Meere and Rah Fizelle, had been encouraged to place a great emphasis on drawing which was seen as the foundation of all art while figure studies and landscape were the dominant subject matter. Badham was born in Watsons Bay, Sydney in 1899 and upon completing his schooling, worked briefly as a clerk before signing up to the Royal Australian Navy in 1917. As a result, it was not until 1921 that he was able pursue his studies at the Julian Ashton Art School In 1932 where notably, just two years before he painted Nude Model, he was runner up to fellow student William Dobell for the prestigious New South Wales Travelling Scholarship. Although Nude Model is a quietly classical composition, in typical Badham style, it is rich in information about the period in which it was painted. He has positioned his classically-posed model on a window seat beneath a narrow band of stained-glass casement windows which were typical of the 1920s bungalow. This referenced the Arts and Crafts movement and was the most common form of housing in the Sydney suburb of Vaucluse in the 1930s.2 Badham also records their exteriors in works such as The Travellers and South Head, 1935. It would seem highly possible that this is the artist’s own home, as he was living in the area at this time. His interest in geometry and perspective which was to become a major feature of his work during the fifties is also beginning to surface here, as the angle of the model’s legs echoes the angle of the abstract shapes in the stained-glass window. The model’s identity has yet to be established but it appears to be the same person as portrayed in the work The New Scarf, also from 1934. Another unifying factor for works of this period is Badham’s inclusion of fabric. Here he uses the striped cloth and coloured cushion against the abstracted window pattern, while in Breakfast Piece, 1936 (Art Gallery of New South Wales), the play of blue and white cloth, crockery and clothing creates a highly active surface, as does the art deco pattern of the women’s hats and men’s blazers in The Travellers. Apart from their competence, these early works by Badham are important in that they signify a break away from post-Heidelberg pastoral landscapes and record an interest in the immediate world of everyday Sydney. 1. Ashton, H., ‘Herbert Badham. Interesting Painter’, Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney, 25 May 1939, p. 4 2. See Raworth, B., Our Inter-war Houses: How to Recognise, Restore and Extend Houses of the 1920s and 1930s, National Trust of Australia (Victoria), Melbourne, 1991 CHRISTINE FRANCE
Deutscher and Hackett
Apr. 23, 2023
Herbert Badham (1899-1961) Still Life, 1958
Est: $20,000 - $40,000
Herbert Badham (1899-1961) Still Life, 1958 also known as Ranunculi signed and dated lower right: 'HBADHAM '58' signed, titled and inscribed verso: H.E. BADHAM / RANUNCULI / 30 GUINEES' oil on canvas on board 36.0 x 29.5cm (14 3/16 x 11 5/8in).
Bonhams
Nov. 23, 2022
HERBERT BADHAM (1899-1961), Jetty, Watsons Bay 1930
Est: $18,000 - $25,000
HERBERT BADHAM (1899-1961) Jetty, Watsons Bay 1930 oil on canvas on board 35.5 x 30.5 cm signed and dated lower right: H BADHAM '30
Menzies
Aug. 24, 2022
HERBERT BADHAM 1899-1961 The Bus Stop 1953 oil on canvasboard
Est: $80,000 - $120,000
HERBERT BADHAM 1899-1961 The Bus Stop 1953 oil on canvasboard signed and dated 'HBADHAM 53' lower right; signed, dated and inscribed '"The Bus Stop" / H Badham / East Sydney Tech / Price: 30 Guineas' verso 54.5 x 44 cm frame: original, S.A. Parker, Sydney PROVENANCE Herbert Badham, Sydney Ray Granger, Lismore John Stretch and Shirley Stretch, Lismore The Estate of John and Shirley Stretch, Lismore Important Australian and Aboriginal Art, Bonhams, Sydney, 20 June 2018, lot 2, '1958', illustrated Private Collection, Sydney, acquired from the above EXHIBITED Annual Exhibition, Society of Artists, Education Department's Gallery, Sydney, 28 August - 14 September 1953, no. 151, 30 gns
Smith & Singer
Jul. 27, 2022
HERBERT BADHAM, STUDY FOR THE EXPULSION, VERSO: STUDY FOR TEMPTATION OF ST. ANTHONY, 1956
Est: $15,000 - $20,000
HERBERT BADHAM (1899 - 1961) STUDY FOR THE EXPULSION, (VERSO: STUDY FOR TEMPTATION OF ST. ANTHONY), 1956 oil on compressed card 40.5 x 29.5 cm signed and dated lower right: H BADHAM 56 bears inscription on gallery label verso: Herbert Badham / Study for “The Expulsion” / 1956 PROVENANCE Macquarie Galleries, Sydney (label attached verso) Private collection, acquired from the above Leonard Joel, Melbourne, 13 November 1990, lot 19 Joseph Brown Gallery, Melbourne, acquired from the above The Cbus Collection of Australian Art, Melbourne, acquired from the above on 19 November 1990 EXHIBITED Herbert Badham (1899 – 1961), Macquarie Galleries, Sydney, August – 10 September 1979, cat. 21 (label attached verso) One, Two, See; Maths in a Visual World, Wollongong City Gallery, New South Wales, 2003 Figurative Works from the Cbus Collection, Latrobe Regional Gallery, Victoria, 4 August – 2 December 2012 on long term loan to Wollongong City Gallery, New South Wales LITERATURE Nainby, B., Stanhope, Z., and Furlonger, K., The Cbus Collection of Australian Art, in association with Latrobe Regional Gallery, Melbourne, 2009, pp. 15, 87 (illus.), 212 RELATED WORK The Expulsion, 1956, oil on composition board, 114.5 x 91.5 cm, private collection The Temptation of St. Anthony, 1957, oil on composition board, 114.0 x 91.5 cm, private collection
Deutscher and Hackett
Apr. 12, 2022
HERBERT BADHAM 1899-1961 Still Life 1954 oil on board
Est: $20,000 - $30,000
HERBERT BADHAM 1899-1961 Still Life 1954 oil on board signed and dated 'HBADHAM / 54' lower left 46 x 38.6 cm frame: original, maker unknown, Sydney PROVENANCE Herbert Badham, Sydney Miss Gwen Watson, Brisbane Private Collection, Brisbane, acquired from the above Australian and International Fine Art and Sculpture, Menzies, Sydney, 23 September 2014, lot, 12, 'Still Life with Mirror Reflection', illustrated Private Collection, Melbourne, acquired from the above
Smith & Singer
Dec. 01, 2020
HERBERT BADHAM (1899-1961) (Still Life with Butter and Apples) c.1930 oil on plywood
Est: $20,000 - $25,000
HERBERT BADHAM (1899-1961) (Still Life with Butter and Apples) c.1930 oil on plywood signed upper right: HBADHAM 45 x 30.5cm PROVENANCE: Private collection, Melbourne Thence by descent OTHER NOTES: Apart from a brief exploration with abstraction in the 1950s, Herbert Badham remained first and foremost a realist painter. His subject was the everyday. Along with many other key artists of his generation including William Dobell, Charles Meere, and Rah Fizelle, Badham studied at the Julian Ashton Art School in Sydney. His teachers maintained a traditional perspective of art, with draughtsmanship and truth to nature of utmost importance. With influences coming from England, Badham gave great importance to form, tone, and light from an early age. Rather than following the Heidelberg School's favouritism of pastoral landscapes, Badham and his peers instead focused on the urban landscape and interior scenes whilst remaining within the acceptable conservative space that their English counterparts proposed. The aesthetic experiments that artists of this period conducted were done with typically mundane objects - vases, food, cups, bottles and other domestic debris. No longer was still life painting tied to allegorical meaning, the modern still life was a study of everyday existence. Such an aesthetic experimentation is seen in Herbert Badham's Still Life with Butter and Apples c.1930. Badham's academic training is abundantly clear, with front-on perspective and a focus on form and shadowing of these carefully arranged objects. The colour palette and subjects draw parallels to Cezanne whilst the formal proportions and perspective remain academically realist. Still Life with Butter and Apples c.1930 is one of Herbert Badham's few known still life studies although objects of the domestic interior form a key part of many of his most recognised paintings. In 1932, Herbert Badham was recognised as the runner up to William Dobell in the New South Wales Travelling Art Scholarship. Four years later, Badham completed one of his most recognised paintings, Breakfast Piece 1936, now in the collection of the Art Gallery of New South Wales. In this particular realist painting, the objects appear as props, theatrically posed in perfect design just as Badham preferred. His wife sits front and centre amongst the arrangement of objects, amidst a simplified colour palette of fresh blues, whites, and yellows. Still Life with Butter and Apples c.1930 is similarly limited in colour palette, with greys, purples and reds favoured by Badham. The knife, too, is resting near the clean cut butter waiting to be spread. These rather simple objects are given great importance within the composition, perhaps indicative of the value of such products after the war. Both paintings portray a domestic tranquility where objects typically seen as mundane create a stylised portrayal of Badham's everyday life. Much of Herbert Badham's career was spent teaching at East Sydney Technical college where he influenced and shaped many of Australia's most respected artists. Badham produced two books; one, titled A Study of Australian Art, became particularly relevant in the dialogue of Australian Art, although mostly in relation to the Sydney painters. Badham was one of a number of figurative painters in Sydney between the wars whose work typified an aspect of Sydney modernism that addressed contemporary subjects through predominantly English realist traditions. Whilst art history tends to applaud those who introduced great change, Herbert Badham is a timely reminder that there is more than one way to be modern. Olivia Fuller / Head of Art
Leonard Joel
Nov. 25, 2020
Herbert Badham (1899-1961) South Head, 1935
Est: $50,000 - $70,000
Herbert Badham (1899-1961) South Head, 1935 signed and dated lower left: 'HBADHAM 35' oil on cardboard 51.0 x 41.0cm (20 1/16 x 16 1/8in). For further information on this lot please visit the Bonhams website
Bonhams
Nov. 25, 2020
Herbert Badham (1899-1961) Mentone, 1936
Est: $8,000 - $12,000
Herbert Badham (1899-1961) Mentone, 1936 signed and dated lower right: 'HBADHAM 36'; inscribed verso: 'MENTONE / HERBERT BAD' oil on canvas on board 20.0 x 25.5cm (7 7/8 x 10 1/16in). For further information on this lot please visit the Bonhams website
Bonhams
Nov. 25, 2020
Herbert Badham (1899-1961) Still Life, c.1948
Est: $6,000 - $8,000
Herbert Badham (1899-1961) Still Life, c.1948 oil on canvasboard 26.5 x 21.0cm (10 7/16 x 8 1/4in). For further information on this lot please visit the Bonhams website
Bonhams
Nov. 25, 2020
Herbert Badham (1899-1961) Eric Wilson's Yacht, 1936
Est: $3,000 - $5,000
Herbert Badham (1899-1961) Eric Wilson's Yacht, 1936 signed and dated lower right: 'HBADHAM ' 36' watercolour and pencil on paper 28.0 x 35.5cm (11 x 14in). For further information on this lot please visit the Bonhams website
Bonhams
Mar. 22, 2020
BADHAM Herbert (1899-1961), 'Snow in Courtfield Gardens,' 1955., Oil on Canvas on Board, 35.5x29cm
Est: $2,000 - $4,000
BADHAM, Herbert (1899-1961) 'Snow in Courtfield Gardens,' 1955. Oil on Canvas on Board 35.5x29cm
Davidson Auctions
Nov. 27, 2019
HERBERT BADHAM , (1899 – 1961) , ANDANTE, 1953 , oil on canvas
Est: $8,000 - $12,000
HERBERT BADHAM (1899 – 1961) ANDANTE, 1953 oil on canvas SIGNED: signed and dated lower right: H BADHAM ’53 DIMENSIONS: 42.5 x 54.0 cm PROVENANCE: Private collection, Queensland Estate of the above, Queensland EXHIBITED: probably: Society of Artists, Department of Education, Sydney, 28 August – 14 September 1953, cat. 144 (as ‘Andante Melancholico’)
Deutscher and Hackett
Nov. 20, 2019
§ HERBERT BADHAM 1899-1961 Port Said 1954 oil on canvas on cardboard 38 x 30.5 cmframe: original, maker unknown
Est: $10,000 - $15,000
§ HERBERT BADHAM 1899-1961 Port Said 1954 oil on canvas on cardboard dated and inscribed 'Port Said / Novr 1954' verso 38 x 30.5 cm frame: original, maker unknown PROVENANCE Herbert Badham, Sydney Private Collection, Melbourne, gift from the above Private Collection, Melbourne, by descent from the above Australian and International Fine Art and Aboriginal Art, Deutscher and Hackett, Sydney, 30 November 2016, lot 93, illustrated Private Collection, Melbourne, acquired from the above
Smith & Singer
Feb. 07, 2019
Herbert Edward Badham (1899 - 1961) - Sketch for the Ferry 36.5 x 29.5cm
Est: $5,000 - $7,000
Herbert Edward Badham (1899 - 1961) Sketch for the Ferry oil on canvas laid on board 36.5 x 29.5cm unsigned. Private Colleciton, Sydney; Macquarie Galleries (label verso)
Lawsons
Nov. 29, 2017
HERBERT BADHAM, (1899 – 1961), AVALON BEACH, c.1949, oil on canvas on board
Est: $8,000 - $12,000
HERBERT BADHAM, (1899 – 1961), AVALON BEACH, c.1949, oil on canvas on board DIMENSIONS: 30.5 x 38.0 cm PROVENANCE: Estate of the artist, Sydney Thence by descent Chebi Badham, Sydney Rushton Fine Arts, Sydney, 20 November 1989, lot 59 (label attached verso) Private collection, Sydney
Deutscher and Hackett
Nov. 29, 2017
HERBERT BADHAM, (1899 – 1961), MOORINGS AT PITTWATER, 1949, oil on canvas on board
Est: $8,000 - $12,000
HERBERT BADHAM, (1899 – 1961), MOORINGS AT PITTWATER, 1949, oil on canvas on board SIGNED: signed and dated lower left: HBadham ‘49 signed verso: Badham DIMENSIONS: 30.5 x 38.0 cm PROVENANCE: Estate of the artist, Sydney Thence by descent Chebi Badham, Sydney Rushton Fine Arts, Sydney, 20 November 1989, lot 43 (label attached verso) Private collection, Sydney
Deutscher and Hackett
Aug. 16, 2017
§ HERBERT BADHAM 1899-1961 Boatshed, Sydney Harbour 1927 oil on canvas 35.7 x 25.6 cm
Est: $18,000 - $22,000
§ HERBERT BADHAM 1899-1961 Boatshed, Sydney Harbour 1927 oil on canvas signed and dated 'HBADHAM '27' upper right 35.7 x 25.6 cm PROVENANCE Private Collection, New South Wales, acquired directly from the artist Important Australian Art, Sotheby's Australia, Sydney, 31 August 2016, lot 2, illustrated Corporate Collection, Sydney, acquired from the above
Smith & Singer
Nov. 30, 2016
HERBERT BADHAM, (1899 - 1961), CIRCULAR QUAY, 1954, oil on canvas board
Est: $4,000 - $6,000
HERBERT BADHAM, (1899 - 1961), CIRCULAR QUAY, 1954, oil on canvas board SIGNED: dated and inscribed verso: Sydney Hbr / Circular Quay / January 1954 bears inscription verso: Circular Quay / Herbert Badham DIMENSIONS: 30.5 x 36.5 cm PROVENANCE: Private collection, Melbourne, a gift from the artist Thence by descent Private collection, Melbourne
Deutscher and Hackett
Nov. 30, 2016
HERBERT BADHAM, (1899 - 1961), PORT SAID, 1954, oil on canvas board
Est: $6,000 - $8,000
HERBERT BADHAM, (1899 - 1961), PORT SAID, 1954, oil on canvas board SIGNED: dated and inscribed verso: Port Said / Novr 1954 DIMENSIONS: 38.0 x 30.5 cm PROVENANCE: Private collection, Melbourne, a gift from the artist Thence by descent Private collection, Melbourne
Deutscher and Hackett
Nov. 23, 2016
HERBERT BADHAM 1899-1961 Botanical Gardens, Sydney (circa 1936) oil on canvas60 x 90 cm
Est: $80,000 - $100,000
HERBERT BADHAM 1899-1961 Botanical Gardens, Sydney (circa 1936) oil on canvas 60 x 90 cm (Portrait and Sydney Harbour) (circa 1942) oil on canvas 90 x 60 cm PROVENANCE Private Collection Private Collection, Melbourne, acquired from the above Paintings, Leonard Joel, Melbourne, 10 April 1990, lot 110, illustrated Corporate Collection, Melbourne, acquired from the above
Smith & Singer
Aug. 31, 2016
HERBERT BADHAM 1899-1961 Boatshed, Sydney Harbour 1927 oil on canvas
Est: $20,000 - $30,000
HERBERT BADHAM 1899-1961 Boatshed, Sydney Harbour 1927 oil on canvas signed and dated 'HBADHAM '27' upper right 35.7 x 25.6 cm PROVENANCE Private Collection, New South Wales, acquired directly from the artist
Smith & Singer
Aug. 31, 2016
HERBERT BADHAM 1899-1961 Long Reef, Sydney 1939 oil on composition board
Est: $25,000 - $35,000
HERBERT BADHAM 1899-1961 Long Reef, Sydney 1939 oil on composition board signed and dated 'HBADHAM '39' lower right 27 x 37.5 cm PROVENANCE Private Collection, New South Wales, acquired directly from the artist
Smith & Singer
Dec. 02, 2015
HERBERT BADHAM, 1899 – 1961, SYDNEY HARBOUR FROM DARLING POINT, c.1944, oil on pulpboard
Est: $20,000 - $30,000
HERBERT BADHAM, 1899 – 1961, SYDNEY HARBOUR FROM DARLING POINT, c.1944, oil on pulpboard SIGNED: signed and inscribed verso: H Badham / ... / “Sydney Harbour” / Price: 10 Guineas bears inscription on Macquarie Galleries label verso: ... c1944 / oil on pulpboard ... DIMENSIONS: 29.5 x 37.0 cm PROVENANCE: Macquarie Galleries, Sydney (label attached verso) Private collection, Victoria, acquired from the above c. 1978-80
Deutscher and Hackett
Aug. 26, 2015
HERBERT BADHAM, (1899 - 1961), PITT STREET, SYDNEY, 1943, oil on compressed card
Est: $25,000 - $35,000
HERBERT BADHAM, (1899 - 1961), PITT STREET, SYDNEY, 1943, oil on compressed card SIGNED: signed and dated lower left: HBadham 45 DIMENSIONS: 50.0 x 39.5 cm PROVENANCE: Sotheby's, Melbourne, 25 August 1998, lot 22 Private collection, Sydney ESSAY: Herbert Badham had a familiar, intimate relationship with Sydney, the city of his birth and lifelong home. He was at ease in its streets, shops and bars and comfortable on its gleaming beaches. He brought his focused eye and trained hand to bear on every aspect of its daily life, taking pleasure in depicting the simple life of a great modern city. While the coming of war might have blighted his career prospects in what should have been his most productive years, he continued to work with dedication and single-mindedness on charming and stylish visions of his city. Badham is best known today for his complex figure compositions, often in public interiors, full of life and the bustle of the daily round, but he also produced many landscapes and cityscapes which showed his command both of atmospheric painting and clear, controlled draughtsmanship. Pitt Street was in Badham's day Sydney's principal thoroughfare, running south from Circular Quay all the way to Central station and beyond. Crowded with shoppers, business people and traffic, it had a bustle and excitement even in the straightened wartime years. In Pitt Street, Sydney, 1943, Badham has depicted that life at a distance, looking down from one of the tall buildings that line the central section of the street. Trams run busily below, serving what was then the nation's largest network, a service which peaked in the war years with an astonishing 405 million annual passenger journeys, yet was completely abandoned in the year of his death, 1961. The homely tram was for Badham a familiar and trusted servant of the people, so different to the evil Cyclops menacing the dark street life in Albert Tucker's Images of Modern Evil, being painted down in Melbourne. Badham has forsaken his favoured view of the street from the footpath to rise up and celebrate the facades of the tallest buildings; the great sweep of the street as it runs south toward Central. The tower clock tells us it is late morning and the western side of the street is bathed in bright sunshine, its clear light having just reached the pavement below. We might see that bright morning light as the hope of peace after four long years of war-- a time in which Badham worked diligently to record the lives of his city, constrained and under rationing, but not without joy and pleasure. Painted just a year after Sydney came under direct attack from Japanese submarines, he chose a bright, positive and peaceful image, unlike Margaret Preston's fascination with the remnants of the defeated subs and views of a city under siege in such works as Sydney Post Office of 1942. The colour and vibrancy of Badham's Sydney was soon to come alive with a new generation of artists, back from the war and ready for a new and exciting post-war world. He was to teach many of them in his role at East Sydney Technical College, building on the artistic traditions he had documented in his two popular volumes on Australian Art. GAVIN FRY
Deutscher and Hackett
Jun. 13, 2015
Herbert Edward Badham (1899-1961) Australia attributed to and reputed to be a portrait of his wife, unframed, approx 76cm x 63cm
Est: $200 - $300
Herbert Edward Badham (1899-1961) Australia attributed to and reputed to be a portrait of his wife, unframed, approx 76cm x 63cm
Vickers & Hoad
May. 06, 2015
HERBERT BADHAM, (1899 - 1961), SNACK BAR, 1944, oil on pulpboard
Est: $90,000 - $120,000
HERBERT BADHAM, (1899 - 1961), SNACK BAR, 1944, oil on pulpboard SIGNED: signed and dated lower left: H BADHAM '44 DIMENSIONS: 41.5 x 50.0 cm EXHIBITED: Society of Artists Annual Exhibition, Sydney, 1944, cat. 86 Herbert Badham, Macquarie Galleries, Sydney, August - September 1979, cat. 9 Aspects of Australian Figurative Painting 1942 - 1962: Dreams, Fears and Desires, 5th Biennale of Sydney, S.H. Ervin Gallery (National Trust), Sydney, 11 April - 17 June 1984, cat. 8 Herbert Badham (Retrospective Exhibition), Wollongong City Gallery, New South Wales, 27 August - 4 October, 1987; S.H. Ervin Gallery (National Trust), Sydney, 10 October - 15 November 1987, cat. 53 Bluey & Curley: Portraits from an Era 1939-55, Ipswich Art Gallery, Queensland, 8 April - 18 June 2000; Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 31 July - 3 August 2000, cat.1 LITERATURE: Society of Artists Book 1944, Ure Smith, Sydney, 1944, p.13 (illus.) Dixon, C., and Smith, T., Aspects of Australian Figurative Painting 1942 - 1962: Dreams, Fears and Desires, Power Institute of Fine Arts, Sydney, in association with the Biennale of Sydney, 1984, cat. 8, pp. 2, 27, 91 (illus. frontispiece, p. 2) Dixon, C., and France, C., Herbert Badham 1899 - 1961 (Retrospective Exhibition Catalogue), Wollongong City Gallery, New South Wales, 1987, p. 24, cat. 26 Bluey & Curley: Portraits from an Era 1939 - 55, Global Arts Link, Queensland, in association with Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 2000, p. 26 Nowra, L., Kings Cross: A Biography, NewSouth Publishing, Sydney, 2013, p. 288 PROVENANCE: Georgina Farquhar, Sydney A gift to her sister, Elizabeth Mackay, Sydney Thence by descent M.E.K. Adams, Sydney Thence by descent Private collection, Sydney ESSAY: After decades of neglect, Herbert Badham has been rediscovered as a major figure in Australian art. Born in Watsons Bay, Sydney, just before the end of the 19th century, he left school and became a clerk before joining the Royal Australian Navy in 1917. He began art studies at the Sydney Art School in 1921, joining contemporaries William Dobell, Douglas Dundas and Charles Meere. The discipline of his early career and naval service suggests a methodical mind and a need for order, draughtsmanship and planning. His work reflected those values in structured figure compositions strongly influenced by English realism. Depicting the life of urban Sydney with keen observation and wry good humour, he chose subjects from the everyday world of the shop, the street and the bar-room. Herbert Badham taught at East Sydney Technical College from 1938 and remained there until his death in 1961. He imparted to his students his interest in design, formal composition and structure, elements that gradually fell from favour in the wide adoption of expressionism and abstraction. There were hints of social realism in his subjects and anecdotal reporting of ordinary life, but with little political edge or reforming zeal in his quirky depictions of the everyday. His subjects are calm, open, direct and comfortable in their surroundings. A portrait of his wife at the breakfast table, acquired by the Art Gallery of New South Wales in 1936, is an enduring image of the quiet good life. Even when depicting everyday life in wartime Sydney, Badham was happy to show that, despite restrictions and rationing, life went on. Snack Bar is a classic of Badham's style and shows his fascination with groups of people in ordinary situations. In a remarkably modest space, he has presented some fourteen recognisable figures, each clearly portrayed as a type and an individual. Visiting American servicemen and women are at home in the Hasty Tasty snack bar in Kings Cross, sitting happily among the mixed bunch of Aussies from 'civvy street'. Badham does provide gentle social comment, with a black American GI keeping close company with a local girl, while the well-satisfied businessmen happily hoe into the simple fare. Rationing might have been in force, but nobody goes hungry in the Hasty Tasty. The venue itself was woven into the rich tapestry of Sydney life - from its hosting of the nation's first AA meetings to its cameo role in They're a Weird Mob, the doors never closed on the denizens of the Cross. The colour is elegant and restrained, symbolic perhaps of the straightened circumstances of war, in a part of the city thronging with servicemen on leave from the Naval dockyards at the bottom of the hill. Snack Bar featured in the Badham retrospective mounted by the S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney in 1987 and stands alongside the record breaking Travellers, 1933 as a major work in his oeuvre.
Deutscher and Hackett
Sep. 23, 2014
HERBERT BADHAM (1899-1961) Still Life with Mirror Reflection 1954
Est: $15,000 - $20,000
HERBERT BADHAM (1899-1961) Still Life with Mirror Reflection 1954 oil on board 45.0 x 37.5 cm signed and dated lower left: H BADHAM/ 54
Menzies
Jun. 26, 2013
Herbert Badham (1899-1961)
Est: -
Travellers 1933 signed and dated 'H.BADHAM '33' lower right oil on canvas 93.3 x 69.0cm (36 3/4 x 27 3/16in).
Bonhams
Apr. 06, 2011
Herbert Edward Badham (1899 - 1961) Kaleidoscope
Est: $2,000 - $4,000
Herbert Edward Badham (1899 - 1961) Kaleidoscope 1956 oil on board, signed and dated l.r.c. `H Badham 56' 53.5 x 42 cm Provenance Sotheby's Australia 17/4/1989 lot 22 Rudy Komon Art Gallery, Private Collection, Sydney
Shapiro Auctioneers
Oct. 27, 2010
Herbert Edward Badham (1899-1961) The Gap at
Est: $4,000 - $6,000
Herbert Edward Badham (1899-1961) The Gap at Watson's Bay, 1935 oil on panel signed and dated l.l.c. "H BADHAM '35" 25 x 30cm PROVENANCE: Private Collection, Sydney
Shapiro Auctioneers