Myrtle Taylor Bradford, Watercolor, 13 one half by 18 one half inches.
Myrtle Bradford taught art at Butler College of the University of Indiana, in Indianapolis, for 10 years, and at the State College for Girls in Columbus, Mississippi. For years she was known in the North as the Hoosier Flower Artist. Several of her paintings were shown in Paris in 1936. Bradford came to Miami in 1925 following the death of her husband. She joined her brother, C.A. Taylor, (the builder of Star Island) as a director of the Third National Bank of Miami. In 1934, the La Revue Moderne, published by the Laureate Magazine Society National de France, classified Mrs. Bradford with world exhibition artists in the National Galleries, calling her, “A Lyric Artist.” In 1936 she wrote U-le-lah, Florida’s Pocahontas. That same year the Miami Women’s Club established the Myrtle Taylor Bradford Gold Medal Award to be presented annually at the Women’s Club’s, Artist and Writers Breakfast, to the artist, or writer, who is judged to have done outstanding work in the field for his community.Bradford created the Penny Art Fund in Florida, to secure traveling art exhibits for schools and clubs.
The Miami Herald, May 3, 1942, “Myrtle Taylor Bradford paints tropic scenery in watercolor, stressing the paler, subdued shades whose value is pointed up by the clear tropic light which permeates them. Typical of her style are the companion pieces, ‘Biscayne Bay’ and ‘Tropic Lure,’ both accenting the slender lines of coconut palms, and the smaller pair titled ‘Sunset-High Tide’ and ‘Sunrise, Low Tide.’ Also in this vein is ‘Inlet,’ with its glimpse of blue bay in the background.” In 1945, she was Florida chairman of American Art Week, sponsored by the American Artists Professional League. She was the first president of the Miami Art League; founded the Junior Architectural Society of Miami; and was made an honorary member of the Blue Dome Fellowship. For ten years she served as director of the February Art Exhibit for Miami and visiting Artists. Bradford was state literary chairman of the National Council of Women. In 1957, she was named Women of the Year in Culture and Art.
Born: August 22, 1886, Indianapolis, Indiana.
Died: 1974, Miami.
Education: Harvard University, BFA; with Batchelder; with Aulick in Germany; Senor Campania at Belle Arte of Venice, Italy; with Lena Hinman, a pupil of Fraulein Kline, Court Artist of Germany.
Membership: Florida Painters Association, 1941; Blue Dome Fellowship (honorary president); Southern States Art League; Miami Art League, founding member; Florida Federation of Art; American Artists Professional League, Florida state director for 18 years.
Exhibits: Miami Woman’s Club, 1st Annual Artists’ Salon, February 1929; Miami Woman’s Club, 2nd Annual Artists’ Salon, February 1930; Biltmore Hotel, 1933, In the Forest, Undertow, Sunset Glow, Lovebirds; Florida Federation of Art, Annual Circuit, 1933, tempera, Yellow Roses; Blue Dome Fellowship, Annual Exhibition, Miami Beach Library and Art Center, January 1937; Miami Art League, Miami Beach Public Library, November 1941, honorable mention, watercolor, Autumn; Florida Painters Association, 2nd Annual, Miami Beach, December 1941; Housekeepers’ Club annual, Coconut Grove, February 1942; Blue Dome Fellowship, College Cupboard, Giralda Avenue, Coral Gables, April 1942 with Louise Zaring, Yellow Roses, Chinese God, Blue Vases; Miami Art League, Associated Artists Gallery, Leamington Hotel, November 1942, 1st prize, watercolor, The Inlet; Miami Art League, Miami Associated Artists new gallery, 1822 Biscayne Blvd, April 1943; Florida Federation of Art, 1944, exhibit at Jacksonville Woman’s Club, February-March 1945, watercolor, Florida Water; Miami Art League, Burdines Department Store, November 1945; Florida Federation of Art, 19th Annual, Miami Beach, December 7, 1945, member jury of awards, watercolor, My Favorite Rose, Cabbage Palm; Miami Art League, Annual, Miami Beach Art Center, November 1946; Blue Dome Fellowship, 1st exhibit after WWII, in cooperation with Miami Woman’s Club, Miami Art League, Burdines, February 1947; Blue Dome Fellowship, at Housekeeper’s Clubhouse, 2985 Bayshore Drive, January-February 1948; Miami Art League, 1st Downtown Gallery Exhibit, Florida Power and Light Co., Ingraham Building, January 1949; Blue Dome Fellowship, Annual, Miami Beach Art Center, January-February 1949, Jungle Town Trinidad; Blue Dome Fellowship, Annual, Miami Beach Art Center, March 1951.
Directory: Listed in the Miami City Directory as a portrait artist in 1929, 1930 with studio at 1737 N. Bay Shore Drive.
