Stanley Roy Badmin

{{Short description|English painter and etcher}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{Infobox artist | birth_date = {{birth date|1906|4|18|df=yes}} | death_date = {{death date and age|1989|4|28 |1906|4|18|df=yes}} | birth_place = Sydenham, London, England | death_place = Chichester, West Sussex, England | education = Camberwell College of Arts<br>Royal College of Art }}

'''Stanley Roy Badmin''' (18 April 1906 – 28 April 1989) was an English painter and etcher particularly notable for his book illustrations and landscapes.

==Life== The son of Charles James Badmin and his wife Margaret, Badmin was born in Sydenham and baptized at a Methodist Chapel in Holcombe, Somerset, in 1908, when his date of birth was noted as 18 April 1906.<ref>''Baptisms Solemnized in the Wesleyan-Methodist Chapels Holcombe and other places'', no. 118 (12 August 1908), [https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/61689/48881_302022005560_4292-00043 p. 34] at ancestry.co.uk, accessed 20 April 2025 {{subscription required}}</ref> He went on to study at Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts and the Royal College of Art, London; he became one of the youngest ever associate members of the Royal Watercolour Society at age 26. He taught at a number of art schools in London, teaching at the Central School of Art in the 1950s.

In October 1939, Badmin was living with his parents in Lewisham and was an art teacher. His father, Charles, was a retired schoolmaster.<ref>National Registration Act 1939, [https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/61596/tna_r39_0399_0399f_003 Register for Lewisham] at ancestry.co.uk, accessed 3 June 2020: “Thorpewood Avenue, Lewisham... 40 / Badmin Stanley R. / M / 18 April 06 / M / Art teacher” {{subscription required}}</ref> During the Second World War, he worked for the British government's Ministry of Information, before joining the Royal Air Force.

A major retrospective exhibition of his work was held in 1985 to coincide with the publication of his biography.

Badmin died in Chichester, West Sussex, in 1989.<ref>“BADMIN Stanley Roy of Streamfield Bignor Pulborough W Sx died 28 April 1989” in ''Probate Index for England and Wales'' (1989), p. 290</ref>

==Work==

thumb|right|225px|''February'', one of Badmin's illustrations for the ''Shell Guide to Trees and Shrubs'', showing his characteristic treatment of landscape and of trees

Badmin worked primarily in watercolour. He was particularly inspired by the English rural landscape, and was especially noted for his detailed yet evocative paintings of trees. His work shows strong affinities with contemporary neo-romantic artists such as Graham Sutherland, John Piper and Eric Ravilious. His greatest public recognition came through his book illustration and advertising work, which was also largely based on English landscape subjects.

During the 1930s, Badmin began to receive commissions for magazine illustration; he produced his first book illustrations in 1937 (''Highways and Byways of Essex'' by Clifford Bax, with further illustrations by F. L. Griggs). He wrote and illustrated three books for Puffin, the children's imprint of Penguin Books, one of which (''Trees in Britain'', 1943) has been described as "one of the most beautiful illustrated books of [the 20th] century".<ref name=la1>''[http://www.easyontheeye.net/ladybird/authors/va.htm Ladybird Books: Artists]'', accessed 28-04-09</ref> The book was so successful it later became adopted as a set text by an agricultural college.<ref name=ind>''[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/obituary-margaret-potter-1293300.html Obituary: Margaret Potter]'', ''The Independent'', 10-11-97</ref>

Some of Badmin's most well-known work was commissioned by Shell; he worked on advertising art and book illustration for the popular ''Shell Guides'' series during the 1950s. His style also became familiar to the British travelling public through his work for London Transport and a series of posters for British Railways, among other clients.

Badmin usually signed his work "S. R. Badmin", and is most widely known as such.

==References==

{{reflist}}

==Sources==

*Beetles, C. ''S. R. Badmin and the English Landscape'', Collins, 1985, {{ISBN|978-0-00-412020-1}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Badmin, Stanley Roy}} Category:1906 births Category:1989 deaths Category:20th-century English painters Category:English male painters Category:English landscape artists Category:People from Sydenham, London Category:English poster artists Category:English children's book illustrators Category:English watercolourists Category:Academics of the Central School of Art and Design Category:20th-century English printmakers Category:People from Chichester District Category:20th-century English male artists