Woman Holding Woman

Katherine Bradford (b. 1942) is an American artist celebrated for her vibrant, figurative paintings that often depict swimmers, superheroes, and maritime scenes. Recognized for her luminous color palettes, expressive brushwork, and the ability to balance abstraction with representation, Bradford creates dreamlike compositions where figures float in ambiguous spaces, surrounded by vast fields of color. Her intuitive use of translucent washes and unexpected juxtapositions infuses her work with depth and movement, while her recurring motifs explore themes of community, vulnerability, resilience, and transformation. Rather than emphasizing realism, her loosely rendered figures evoke emotional resonance, inviting viewers into a world that hovers between reality and imagination. Through this distinctive visual language, Bradford challenges traditional representations of strength and solitude, offering a more introspective perspective on human connection and identity.

Bradford was born in New York City. She started painting at the age of 30 while living year-round in Maine in the 70’s and was among the early group of artists who founded the UMVA. In the 80’s she moved to New York City and returns each summer to her home in Brunswick. Bradford is represented by Canada in New York and Caldbeck Gallery in Rockport Maine. She has exhibited widely at institutions such as: MoMA P.S.1; The Brooklyn Museum, NY; the Modern Art Museum in Fort Worth, TX; Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, in Bentonville, AR; the Tang Museum, Skidmore College, NY; and at the Ogden Museum in Prospect.4: The New Orleans Biennial. 

Her work is included in collections such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum, the Dallas Museum of Art, the Menil Collection in Houston, TX, and the Portland Museum of Art, ME. Her work has been shown at commercial galleries including: Sperone Westwater and Pace Gallery in New York; Campoli Presti Gallery, London and Paris; Philipp Haverkampf Galerie, Berlin; and Adams and Ollman, Portland OR, among others. Bradford is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Joan Mitchell Grant. She has taught at institutions such as the Yale School of Art, Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia. A recent monograph, Katherine Bradford: Paintings, was published by Canada in 2018.