With his shock of white hair and trade-mark bow tie, James Hardaker (1901 – 1991), was a familiar figure in Bingley, his adoptive town. For many years he ran an artist’s shop in Myrtle Place, then later worked from a studio in Park Road. He was born in Bradford, and a paint set given to him as gift, aged 12, encouraged and started him, despite a disabled right hand, on a lifetime interest, then profession, in art.
Aged 15, he began a basic principles of drawing course at Bradford School of Art, but left after just 18 months for a a job as a lithographer in a printing firm. However, he still wanted to pursue his interest in art so began to paint commissions for others in his spare time. The Myrtle Place art shop in Bingley came up for sale and he took a chance and bought it. About the same time, a local industrialist gave him a painting commission that helped him financially in the early stages of his new career.
His range of art work was wide, and spanned local landscapes, urban scenes, portraits, fantasy impressions, and abstract art.
‘Satyr’s Realm’. Image: Bradford Museums and Galleries
He said of his art:
As a young man I was determined not to devote my life to just one kind of art. Now, I’ve done everything, but there is always the desire to do yet more. Art can take so many forms that the ideas, even on basic themes, are inexhaustible.
However, his traditional style of painting, particularly of recognisable local scenes, proved most popular with visitors to his shop and studio, and provided him with his main income – see two examples below..
‘Bingley’. Image: In a private collection by courtesy of Chris Major.
Skipton. Image: In a private collection
He told a local ‘Telegraph & Argus‘ journalist, in 1978:
Even now, in the 70s, I’d say people prefer a good landscape painting or still life subject to an abstract form. This is not to say that some of this new work is not good, but generally it is not commercially viable.
The Bradford and Bingley Building Society mounted a display of his paintings in its entrance hall in 1980 and his work can be found worldwide in private collections. One of his paintings, of Bingley Parish Church and the Old White Horse Inn, was presented to Prime Minister, Mrs Thatcher, when she attended a reception for local Conservative Party workers in Bingley, in 1985. Public galleries in Bradford and Calderdale also hold examples of his work, as does the Bronte Parsonage Museum at Haworth.
Bronte Parsonage Museum. Image: Bronte Parsonage Museum
The life and work of James Hardaker is also featured in the book: Lesser-Known Artists of the Bradford District, 1860 – 1997