Biography
Helen Bradley was born in Lancashire in 1900, and her fascination with art began not many years later. Despite this early interest, and despite winning the John Platt scholarship at Oldham Art School, Helen Bradley did not start painting seriously until she reached her sixties. Spurred on by her grandchildren’s curiosity in what life was like when she was a child, as well as motivation from her friend and fellow artist L.S. Lowry, Bradley began painting with a focus on reflecting on her own childhood memories, as well as a recurring character called “Miss Carter”- a woman always wearing pink.
Though her popularity began increasing in 1965, the first of a series of books written by Jonathan Cape in 1971 led to her works becoming highly sought after. Helen Bradley’s paintings have been shown in numerous exhibitions, such as at the Saddleworth Art Society, the Salford Museum and Art Gallery, the Yale Center for British Art, and the Carter Gallery in Los Angeles.
Bradley died in July 1979, shortly before her investiture as an MBE.