Frank Henry Bartels Explained

Frank Henry Bartels (18 February 1867 – 18 May 1895) was an Australian pen-and-ink artist and engraver.

Early life and education

Frank Henry Bartels^[1] was born in Adelaide on 18 February 1867,^[2] the second son of Adolph Bartels,^[1] best known as mayor of Adelaide, and his second wife Anna Augusta Bartels.

He was educated at the school conducted by Adolph Leschen, and at Whinham College.

Career

An architect by training, Bartels was apprenticed to the firm of Wright, Reed and Beaver, but finding no prospect of employment, began working as a clerk. He had no formal art tuition.^[3]

He established a studio at the family home in Hurtle Square, where public attention was drawn to his painstaking etchings and watercolours.^[4] Later that year he exhibited 22 pen-and-ink sketches at E. S. Wigg's stationery shop which were praised for their design and execution, comparing some with the work of Mortimer Menpes at the Art Gallery of South Australia.^[5]

In 1893 Bartels exhibited several pen-and-ink sketches with the Adelaide Easel Club that were admired, and late that year exhibited, at Fritz and Bernard's Art Palace, 62 Rundle Street, 92 views of South Australian scenery, including several watercolours.^[6]

In 1894 his painting The Eagle on the Hill was recommended as an addition to the colonial section of the Art Gallery of South Australia.^[7]

Works

Bartels was much in demand for creating decorated addresses and certificates for presentation at official ceremonies, on account of the beauty and precision of his artwork and illuminated lettering. Examples include:

• Presentation to Sir Isaac Pitman^[3]
• Prize certificates for the Literary Societies' Union^[8] and Chamber of Manufactures'^[9] Exhibition.
• Presentation to Dr R. T. Wylde of the Home for Incurables, Fullarton, on the eve of his return to England.^[10]
• His last work was an address to Johnstone, Superintendent of Police at Broken Hill, New South Wales.^[11]

Death

Bartels was caught up in the typhoid epidemic of 1895 and died at his home on Winchester Street, Malvern, on 18 May 1895. His funeral was well-attended. He was buried at West Terrace Cemetery.^[12]

Family

Bartels married Elizabeth "Lizzie" Jeffery on 17 June 1892.^[13] They had two daughters, both educated at Dryburgh House.^[14]

• Doris Eileen "Patsy" Bartels (20 June 1893 –) married Ian Basil Pender on 7 December 1921. Pender was a medical doctor, later of Murrumbeena, Victoria.^[15]
• Pauline Berkeley "Pauli" Bartels (1894–) married Rudolph "Rudi" Bronner in England on 7 April 1917.

• Elizabeth Pauline Berkeley Bronner (1919–) married Donald Malcolm Reid in Sydney on 6 August 1940.

External links

• Five works by Bartels at the Art Gallery of South Australia

Notes and References

1. News: Obituary. . . XXVII . 7662 . South Australia . 18 May 1895 . 19 April 2024 . 4 . National Library of Australia.
2. News: Family Notices . . XXV . 1325 . South Australia . 23 February 1867 . 19 April 2024 . 5 . National Library of Australia.
3. News: Presentation to Sir Isaac Pitman, Inventor of Phonographic Shorthand . . XX . 7 . South Australia . 1 July 1894 . 21 November 2023 . 1 . National Library of Australia.
4. News: The Advertiser Wednesday, May 11, 1892. . . XXXIV . 10472 . South Australia . 11 May 1892 . 21 November 2023 . 4 . National Library of Australia.
5. News: Colonial Art . . LVII . 14,387 . South Australia . 22 December 1892 . 21 November 2023 . 5 . National Library of Australia.
6. News: Local Art . . XXXVI . 10965 . South Australia . 8 December 1893 . 21 November 2023 . 5 . National Library of Australia.
7. News: A Colonial Section to Our National Art Gallery . . LIX . 14,828 . South Australia . 23 May 1894 . 22 November 2023 . 6 . National Library of Australia.
8. News: Literary Societies' Union . . LX . 15,033 . South Australia . 18 January 1895 . 22 November 2023 . 7 . National Library of Australia.
9. News: The Exhibition . . LX . 15,091 . South Australia . 27 March 1895 . 22 November 2023 . 6 . National Library of Australia.
10. News: Home for Incurables . . LX . 15,093 . South Australia . 29 March 1895 . 22 November 2023 . 3 . National Library of Australia. Robert Tracey Wylde came back to SA, dying at Semaphore in November 1903.
11. News: Obituary. . . XXVII . 7662 . South Australia . 18 May 1895 . 22 November 2023 . 4 . National Library of Australia.
12. News: The Late Mr F. H. Bartels . . LX . 15,137 . South Australia . 20 May 1895 . 22 November 2023 . 6 . National Library of Australia.
13. News: Social Sparks . . III . 147 . South Australia . 17 June 1892 . 22 November 2023 . 10 . National Library of Australia.
14. News: When We Were Girls Together . . XXVI . 3,926 . South Australia . 20 February 1936 . 12 March 2019 . 13 . National Library of Australia.
15. News: Advertising . . 29,697 . Victoria, Australia . 3 July 1950 . 22 November 2023 . 7 . National Library of Australia.