Barbara Bradley: A Female Illustrator You Should Know

Last week I received, once again, a comment from a reader asking "what about the female illustrators of the mid-20th century?" This is something that comes up again and again, despite my efforts to feature women artists as often as possible. It made me realize that I haven't done enough to get the word out.


With that in mind, I have just created a companion blog to Today's Inspiration called (surprise!) Female Illustrators of the Mid-20th Century.

And who could be a better first subject for this new blog than Barbara Bradley? Its been nearly two years since Barbara passed away. When she was still with us a week rarely went by when I wasn't blessed with an email or two from her. She wrote with rare insight, offered thoughtful, informed analysis, and always, words of encouragement. Barbara was a remarkable person. I still miss her. (The image above, scanned from the original art, was a very thoughtful gift I received from Barbara's family not long after her passing. I absolutely treasure it and feel very privileged to share it with you today.)

*Update* TI list member Heather David sent me a note yesterday. When she received her TI email containing the scan of Barbara's gouache comp she recognized it as the precursor to this finished illustration, for a Bank of America ad! Many thanks Heather... this gives us the rare opportunity to see the beginning and the conclusion of a Barbara Bradley ad art assignment!


In the next few days (and on other occasions in the future) I'll be featuring female artists of the mid-20th century here on Today's Inspiration - some whom I've featured before, some for the first time. In each case, everything about these artists will be collected and reposted on Female Illustrators of the Mid-20th Century.


Multi-part posts previously presented on TI will be collected and "reprinted" as single, full-length posts. In this way, I hope FIotM-20C will become a valuable resource for those specifically interested in finding artwork examples and documentation on the careers of female illustrators from the '40s, '50s and '60s.