Artist's Resale Right applies @ 4%

Devon Marbles – Berryhead and Ashburton

Circa 1950s


Richard Bedford 1883 – 1967
Born in the South West, Richard Perry Bedford moved
to London at the age of 19 to work on the staff of
the Victoria and Albert Museum. He rose to Keeper
of Sculpture 1924 – 38, Keeper of the Department of
Circulation 1938 – 46, and finally Curator of Pictures at
the Ministry of Works 1947 – 48. On retirement in 1948
he continued to sculpt. A simple enough Curriculum
Vitae but a life in sculpture few have had… │ Bedford
had a lifelong friendship with Henry Moore, first meeting
when learning carving together at a Chelsea School of
Arts night class. In 1925 he met Barbara Hepworth in
Rome. He counted as friends the artists John Piper, John
Nash, Cedric Morris and Lucien Freud. His exhibitions
are a rollcall of some of the most influential galleries,
artist groupings and shows in the first half of the century.
At 44 his first show was at the Goupil Gallery 1927,
then Beaux Arts and Alex Reid. He was a member of
the seven (painters) and five (sculptors) exhibiting at the
Leicester Galleries during the pivotal 1932 / 33 period.
He exhibited with the London Group (Chairman)
throughout the ‘30s, at the Lefevre Gallery in 1936, the
RA in the ‘40s and at the Battersea Open Air Exhibition
in 1948. │ This is the man that no one had heard of, but
what of his art? Here are two examples which show
his typical choice of hard coloured madrepore marbles
from his beloved Devon. Chiselling, cutting and abrading
(a Neolithic technique) he found his way, with physical
resistance, to an ‘embodiment of a conception’ often
taking form as animals, highly polishing the resulting
work to reveal the marble’s rich veining and figuring.
Bedford published many articles and reviews and a
retrospective ‘The World of Richard Bedford’ was held
at The Minories, Colchester, 1968.