Dudley Hardy, RI, ROI

Royal Institute of Oil Painters

The Royal Institute of Oil Painters, also known as ROI, is an association of painters in London and is the only major art society which features work done only in oil. It is a member society of the Federation of British Artists.-History:...

, RBA

Royal Society of British Artists

The Royal Society of British Artists is a British art body established in 1823 as the Society of British Artists, as an alternative to the Royal Academy.-History:...

, RMS, PS, (b. Sheffield

Sheffield

Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...

, Yorkshire

South Yorkshire

South Yorkshire is a metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It has a population of 1.29 million. It consists of four metropolitan boroughs: Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham, and City of Sheffield...

, 15 January 1867 – d. London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, 11 August 1922), was an English painter and illustrator

Illustrator

An Illustrator is a narrative artist who specializes in enhancing writing by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text...

.

Hardy was the eldest son of the marine painter Thomas Bush Hardy, under whose influence and tutelage he first learned to draw and paint. In 1882 he attended the Düsseldorf Academy where he remained for three years. After a further two year's study in Paris and at Antwerp Academy he returned to England to live and work in London.

In 1885 Hardy began exhibiting at the Royal Academy

Royal Academy

The Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly, London. The Royal Academy of Arts has a unique position in being an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and...

, an association that lasted to his death. His painting, Sans Asile (1889), a view of rough sleepers in Trafalgar Square

Trafalgar Square

Trafalgar Square is a public space and tourist attraction in central London, England, United Kingdom. At its centre is Nelson's Column, which is guarded by four lion statues at its base. There are a number of statues and sculptures in the square, with one plinth displaying changing pieces of...

, was exhibited at the Paris Salon

Paris Salon

The Salon , or rarely Paris Salon , beginning in 1725 was the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France. Between 1748–1890 it was the greatest annual or biannual art event in the Western world...

, and the Royal Society of British Artists

Royal Society of British Artists

The Royal Society of British Artists is a British art body established in 1823 as the Society of British Artists, as an alternative to the Royal Academy.-History:...

 Gallery in 1893; it was this painting that established his reputation. Sans Asile and his 1889 painting Dock Strike (London Dock Strike), were part of a wider artistic and statistical examination highlighting London poverty.

The preferred subjects for his work became the Middle East and Brittany

Brittany

Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...

; painting scenes of desert life and Breton

Breton people

The Bretons are an ethnic group located in the region of Brittany in France. They trace much of their heritage to groups of Brythonic speakers who emigrated from southwestern Great Britain in waves from the 3rd to 6th century into the Armorican peninsula, subsequently named Brittany after them.The...

 peasantry. Although not visiting the Sudan

Sudan

Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...

 he became a ‘War Artist

War artist

A war artist depicts some aspect of war through art; this might be a pictorial record or it might commemorate how "war shapes lives." War artists have explored a visual and sensory dimension of war which is often absent in written histories or other accounts of warfare.- Definition and context:A...

’ for the 1890s Sudanese War, providing illustrations for London periodicals. His interest in illustration led to the production of French graphic influenced poster imagery, most notably the Yellow Girl advertisement for Today magazine, and Gaiety Girls, a series of posters depicting actresses of the Gaiety Theatre

Gaiety Theatre

The Gaiety Theatre is a theatre on South King Street in Dublin, Ireland, off Grafton Street and close to St. Stephen's Green. It specialises in operatic and musical productions, with occasional dramatic shows.-History:Designed by architect C.J...

. Further illustrations were for the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company

D'Oyly Carte Opera Company

The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company was a professional light opera company that staged Gilbert and Sullivan's Savoy operas. The company performed nearly year-round in the UK and sometimes toured in Europe, North America and elsewhere, from the 1870s until it closed in 1982. It was revived in 1988 and...

 and the Savoy Theatre

Savoy Theatre

The Savoy Theatre is a West End theatre located in the Strand in the City of Westminster, London, England. The theatre opened on 10 October 1881 and was built by Richard D'Oyly Carte on the site of the old Savoy Palace as a showcase for the popular series of comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan,...

. Much of Hardy’s illustrative work is held at the Victoria and Albert Museum

Victoria and Albert Museum

The Victoria and Albert Museum , set in the Brompton district of The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England, is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 4.5 million objects...

.

In the early 1900s he produced a range of comical postcards, and in 1909 a series of caricatures for the souvenir programme of the Doncaster Aviation Meeting, England's first airshow.

Hardy joined his friend George Haité as a founder member of the London Sketch Club

London Sketch Club

The London Sketch Club was founded on 1 April 1898 as a social club for artists working in the field of commercial graphic art, mainly for newspapers, periodicals and books. The founder members were Dudley Hardy, Phil May, Walter Fowler, Lance Thackeray, Cecil Aldin, W Sanders Fiske, Walter...

; and became the club's president. He later joined the Eccentric Club

Eccentric Club

The Eccentric Club was the name of several London gentlemen's clubs, the best-known of which existed between 1890 and 1986. For much of its history it was based at 9–11 Ryder Street, St James's.-First Eccentric Club:...

.

Dudley Hardy died of heart failure in 1922, and was buried at Woking

Woking

Woking is a large town and civil parish that shares its name with the surrounding local government district, located in the west of Surrey, UK. It is part of the Greater London Urban Area and the London commuter belt, with frequent trains and a journey time of 24 minutes to Waterloo station....

 in Surrey.

Publications

• Greenwall, Ryno (1994); Artists and Illustrators of the Anglo-Boer War – p. 142; Fernwood Press ISBN 0958315426; retrieved April 2011

• Johnson, Alfred Edwin (1909); Dudley Hardy: R.I., R.M.S (Brush, pen & pencil series) – 56 work examples; A. and C. Black; retrieved April 2011

• Hiatt, Charles (1895); Picture Posters: A Short History of the Illustrated Placard - p. 209, 213 248; Kessinger Publishing (Nov 2009) ISBN 1120674778; ("It is, I think, Mr. Dudley Hardy who, of the three artists named, owes most to France. He has made a variation, a very personal and alluring variation, be it said, of a theme essentially Gallic in its unrestrained gaiety..."); retrieved April 2011

• Punch Magazine. Volume 131 Jul To Dec 1906; Punch Office (1906) – p. 42; ("...the Government are, we hear, about to try the effect of more attractive posters by Mr. John Hassall, Mr. Dudley Hardy, and Mr. Tom Browne..."); retrieved April 2011

• Salaman, Malcolm Charles (1892); Woman - Through a Man's Eyeglass – p. 240; BiblioBazaar (2009) ISBN 1103695886; ("...you will find a soothing alternative in looking at Mr. Dudley Hardy's dainty illustrations..."); retrieved April 2011

• The Burlington Magazine - Volume 16 (1909) – p. 17; ISBN 1151938602; ("...the work of Mr. Dudley Hardy is popular; this little volume of unstinted praise and plenty of reproductions should be popular too..."); retrieved April 2011

• Jubert, Roxane (2006); Typography and Graphic Design: From Antiquity to the Present – p. 88, 132, 232; Flammarion; ("...one of them, Dudley Hardy, was a pioneer of the color poster. While a student in Paris, he had been much impressed by Cheret. Some of Hardy's posters present the uniform ground typical of the era..."); retrieved April 2011

• Hammerton, Philip Gilbert (1893); The Portfolio - An Artistic Periodical, 1890, 1891, 1892, 1893 - p. 8; Seeley And Co. Ltd.; ("...the best things in the first room are Mr. Frank Brangwyn's Puerta des Passages and Mr. Dudley Hardy's Snake Charmers. ... As for the Dudley Hardy, it is bizarre in conception and a little painty ; but it deserved a much better place..."); retrieved April 2011

• Horn, Maurice (1999); The World Encyclopedia of Cartoons: 2 – p. 158; Chelsea House ISBN 0791051854; ("...the foundation of the London Sketch Club on April 1, 1898, with Phil May, Tom Browne, John Hassall and Dudley Hardy..."); retrieved April 2011

• The Magazine of Art – Volume 2 - p. 250; La Belle Savvage (1904); ("...in the annual " Landscape Exhibition," held at the Dudley Gallery, there were many excellent achievements by the six ... M. Thaulow, M. le Sidancr, M. Menard, Mr. F. Mayor, and Mr. Dudley Hardy..."); retrieved April 2011

• Breward, Christopher (2004); Fashioning London: Clothing and the Modern Metropolis – p. 85; Berg Publishers ISBN 1859737927; ("...in selecting Mr Dudley Hardy to design the handsome memento which was distributed in the theatre, the management showed a nice sense of appropriateness. Along with French methods of draughtsmanship, the tone of the French..."); retrieved April 2011

• Howard, Jeremy (1996); Art Nouveau: International and National Styles in Europe – p. 56; Manchester University Press
  Manchester University Press
  Manchester University Press is the university press of the University of Manchester, England and a publisher of academic books and journals. Manchester University Press has developed into an international publisher...
  
  ISBN 0719041600; ("... the evocation of the underlying forces of nature, as seen in the designs of Christopher Dresser, the posters of John Hassall and Dudley Hardy..."); retrieved April 2011

• Wooton, David (1999); The Illustrators: The British Art of Illustration 1800-2002 – p. 66; Chris Beetles ISBN 9781871136791; ("...Dudley Hardy produced a poster for Jimmy Davis's musical comedy, A Gaiety Girl which was produced at the Prince of Wales Theatre. Depicting a leaping figure of a chorus girl in a red dress and a black bonnet..."); retrieved April 2011

• Sheldon, Cyril (1937); A History of Poster Advertising. Together with a record of legislation and attempted legislation affecting outdoor advertising, etc – p. 77, 80; Chapman & Hall; ("...the beginning had already been made by that time, with Dudley Hardy's poster announcing the new weekly To-day, ... Dudley Hardy, following up his To-day poster with posters for the " Gaiety Girl," was the first British poster artist..."); retrieved 18 April 2011

• Current literature, Volume 17, p. 219; Current Literature Pub. Co, 1895; ("...Dudley Hardy, the illustrator, is in appearance ... Several of his paintings have been hung in the Paris salon, notably Sans Asile, representing Trafalgar Square..."); retrieved April 2011

• Borzello, Frances (1987); Civilizing Caliban: Misuse of Art, 1875-1980 - p. 22; Camden Press ISBN 0710206755; ("...Dudley Hardy pictured the London dock strike in 1889 and the homeless in Trafalgar Square (Sans Asile, 1889). These reports and visualisations were complemented in the 1880s by efforts to collect a statistically accurate picture of the lower classes..."); retrieved April 2011

External links

• London Sketch Club; retrieved 17 April 2001