Morning Cockerel, 1997

Martin Bradley  

Martin Bradley is an autodidact, born in 1931 in Richmond, Surrey, England. At the age of fourteen he shipped as ordinary seaman on the South America route. In the years at sea he started drawing and painting.

Five years later he returned to London. Martin Bradley´s principal interest was now painting and in 1954 this led up to a one-man-show in Gimpel Fils Gallery in London.

In 1958 he went to Paris where he met Rudolphe Augustinci, who ran Galerie Rive Gauche where among others Max Ernst, Tanguy and Magritte exhibited. Other artists launched at this gallery were Dubuffet, Asger Jorn and Corneille. In 1960 Martin Bradley had a one-man-show at Galerie Rive Gauche and his career seemed to be granted.

In 1962 he left Paris to travel around the world for ten years. In Japan he met his wife Tatsuko and they settled down in Italy to start with. Nowadays they live and work in Japan.

Martin Bradley has found his own way of expression in his colourful, imaginative painting. The thoughts go to Miró, COBRA and Paul Klee which he doesn’t deny, though he is mainly influenced and inspired by prehistoric rock carvings or paintings, as well as by Chinese and Japanese calligraphy.

Throughout the years the list of Martin Bradley´s exhibitions has become very comprehensive. He is represented at a lot of museums, among others at the MOMA in New York.