ROBERT BROADLEY
1908, born in Waterfoot, Lancashire, England
(Deceased 1988)

Portrait, Landscape and Figure Painter , the collection of Helmut Dries, friend of the artist, contains some of the artist's less formal work. One has a sense that each work was carefully selected, that the artist was able to share a moment of pleasure, a heightened awareness of what lay before with the viewer. The small watercolours and line and wash studies of the Cape and foreign harbours, beaches and street scenes were painted on day trips. The portraits in oil were probably completed in the 40s & 50s. There is one of Miss Cynthia Cooper, who later became Miss England in a beauty contest, another of a 'lady' in dishabille holding a brandy glass, a girl on Clifton Beach with a floral skirt. And then there are life drawings - each nude delicately portrayed has a character of her own. Broadley's line and brush work is sure, each work is sure, well composed and captures a mood.

Chronology:

1908 Born in Waterfoot, Lancashire, England./Esme Berman states he was born in Manchester, Uk.

1923 - 1926 Studied at the Victoria School of Art in Southport, Lancashire and in London and was well known at the time as an amateur golfer.

1926 Immigrated to South Africa and worked on his father's sheep farm in Cradock for three years before moving to Cape Town.

1929 - 1936 Played international amateur and professional golf for South Africa.

1936 - 1956 Retired from golf and returned to painting full time with studios in Durban, Johannesburg, Pretoria and Cape Town. During this period he also traveled and lived in France, Sweden, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, United Kingdom and the Canary Islands; work from time spent as an unofficial war artist now hangs in the South African National War Museum, Johannesburg and the South African National Gallery; Cape Town.

1956 -1964 Settled in Spain, initially in Mallorca and later in Perillo near Coruna, Galicia; he also spent time in Portugal, Madrid, Santiago de Compostela and Vigo in North West Spain.

1964 Returned to Cape Town and to his studio in Church Square.

1973 Painting trip to Las Palmas, Gran Canaria.

1974 Returned to Cape Town, where he has since lived and where he has continued to work.

One Man Exhibitions
Robert Broadley had one man exhibitions in Durban, Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town, Grahamstown, Port Elizabeth and Spain. He has not been involved in a one-man exhibition since 1955.

Group Shows:
His work has been included on numerous group shows: The Empire Exhibition, Johannesburg, 1936; The overseas exhibition of South African Art, Tate Gallery,London, 1948; The Republic Festival Exhibition, Durban, 1981; The New Group Exhibition 1938 -1954, Cape Town 1988.

Public Collections;
Johannesburg, Durban, Kimberley, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town Municipal Galleries; the Alfred de Pass Collection, University of Cape Town; The Albany Museum, Grahamstown; South African National Gallery, Cape Town.

Robert Broadley has painted many official and private portraits in South Africa and overseas including; The Royal opening of Parliament by King George VI, 1948, for the House of Assembly; Rt. Hon. Gideon Brandt van Zyl, late governor general of South Africa, and Sir Evelyn Baring; Lord Harlech, Sir Ernest Oppenheimer; and Hon J.J. Loots, Speaker, House of Assembly

Source;
"Robert Broadley", The Cape Gallery, www.capegallery.co.za/artists.htm

Robert Broadley was born in 1908 near Manchester, England. Between 1924 and 1926, he studied at the Victoria School of Art in Southport, before moving to South Africa to work on his father’s sheep farm in Cradock. He moved to Cape Town after a few years and played amateur and professional golf for South Africa, a career he retired from in the mid-1930s to focus on painting. Broadley travelled around South Africa and also spent time in the Canary Islands, France, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, eventually settling in Spain for ten years from the mid-1950s. In 1964, he returned to live and work in Cape Town.

Broadley’s subjects included landscapes, still lifes, portraits, and nude studies.