February 1, 1912- January 6, 1996.
Widely considered Bermuda’s first “modern artist”, Alfred Birdsey earned an international reputation as a painter and muralist. Famously reclusive, he let his work do the talking—and garnered acclaim both in Bermuda and abroad for his painting of near abstract works inspired by the impressionist spirit.
Art critics considered him one of the first Bermudian artists to gain an international reputation, and valued his work for capturing the spirit of Bermuda. His artistic style, with its wonderful use of colour, was his unique signature. His works were, and still are, highly regarded and sought after for their singular style.
As a result of his risk-taking modernism, particularly during the early years of largely parochial painting styles in Bermuda, he was the first and to date the only Bermudian to be listed in the Sotheby’s Auction House sanctioned Official Guide to Fine Art.
Birdsey arrived in Bermuda in 1919 at the age of seven, with parents Harry and Sara, brother Stanley and sister Elsie. Younger brother Ronald was born in 1923. His coppersmith father had accepted a job at the Royal Naval Dockyard. His daughter, Jo Linberg, who has taken over the Birdsey Studio on Stowe Hill, Paget, says that her father’s early days in Bermuda had a tremendous influence on his artistic style.
“His paintings are well recognised for their wonderful use of colour, and perhaps this can be attributed to the impact of beautiful Bermuda upon a seven-year-old boy arriving in Hamilton by steamer from grey, old England on a beautiful July day,” she said. “He always said that he was stunned by the astounding colour of the water and the sky at that time of year.
“Stormy days and wintry skies were equally entrancing to him. The Island was thick with cedars, dotted with cottages. The streets were white with softly coloured cottages dotted about. There were ladies in long dresses with big hats, bicycles, horses and carriages and sailboats. These are the images which appear throughout in his paintings. How fortunate we are that he stored it all away in his head as he never envisioned himself as a painter back in those first years here.
Birdsey attended the Dockyard School until 1923. He was only 11-years-old. Upon leaving school, he worked as a golf caddy, and as an apprentice watchmaker for Otto Wurz before joining the Bermuda Book Store in 1928. He coloured old engravings, which were sold at the store, and he was encouraged to paint by mentors Donald Kirkpatrick, an architect and artist, and Cecil Ashdown, a watercolourist.
In 1930, the family moved to Montreal in search of a better life, but returned to Bermuda two years later. In Montreal, Birdsey worked in the book department at T. Eaton and Company, and this gave him a love of books that was to last a lifetime. Upon arriving back in Bermuda, he again worked at Bermuda Book Store and its sister shop, the Oxford Book Store, remaining with the company for 17 years.
Birdsey married a nurse, Wilma Mary Finlay, from Somerset in 1940 and upon the birth of their daughter, Antoinette, in 1942 became a wholesaler with a division of Gibbons Company. Shortly after their second daughter, Joanne (Jo), was born in 1945, he acquired the Neighbourhood Grocery, forerunner of The Friendly Store, in Warwick.
The grocery business was sold after a few years—and he turned to his first, and everlasting, love of art.
Alfred and Wilma opened The Banana Patch, a shop on what is now Stowe Hill, serving refreshments and selling art and related goods. His watercolours were pinned on a line across the front of the porch, and he also silk-screened fabric for custom-made strapless cocktail dresses and scarves, which were then in vogue. His young daughters assisted in making hand-painted cards, while he painted watercolours and oils and discussed the affairs of the world with whomever stopped by, locals and tourists alike.
Birdsey’s art was an immediate success and he enjoyed the challenge of keeping pace with orders, often producing 15 paintings in a day. He once said that he preferred to sell a painting to customers who “appreciate it not as a memento of Bermuda but for the painting itself”.
Birdsey originally began painting in the realistic style, but abandoned that approach as too confining, preferring the subjective to the objective, which he dismissed as “too much like picture-taking”. He became a committed impressionist, coming under the influence of the famous American orientalist Joe Jones, who spent time in Bermuda during the 1950s and encouraged Birdsey to explore the Far Eastern traditions that defined most of his later work. The two artists painted together at Birdsey’s Stowe Hill home during the winter of 1955, and then exhibited at the Hamilton Hotel in the spring at an exhibition held by the Bermuda Society of Artists.
Self-taught, he also counted Modigliani, Mondrian, Picasso, Braque, Klee, Feinigner, Matisse and Cezanne among his influences as his career and artistic style evolved.
In 1968, the artist moved from the Banana Patch to Rosecote, also on Stowe Hill, and opened the Birdsey Studio in the back garden. It was in this tranquil, natural setting that the artist developed his art, gaining inspiration and knowledge from countless books as well as encouragement from friends and visitors. He was a true ambassador for the Island, not only providing artwork for visiting dignitaries, but also providing a memorable experience for the many visitors who trekked to his studio to experience his sensitivity, humour, wit—and artistic ability.
“His personality is truly reflected in his paintings,” Jo said. “His friendliness and lightness of heart were as unique as his brushstrokes.”
In time, Birdsey also turned to mural painting, a medium that led to many accolades and commissions. Among his mural commissions is a 35-foot piece for the Bermuda Provident Bank (now Bermuda Commercial Bank), which he worked on with his daughter Jo, as well as commissioned murals for the Department of Tourism, and for private collectors. His watercolours were, and are, popular with Bermuda’s major hotel properties.
Birdsey exhibited rarely, viewing himself as the best judge of his work and visitors to his studio gallery as the best jurors. However, he did exhibit at the Bermuda Society of Arts, at the grand opening by Princess Margaret of the Bermuda Arts Centre at Dockyard in 1984 and at Faneuil Hall in Boston. In 1992, the Bermuda National Gallery’s Alfred Birdsey exhibition marked the opening of its Ondaatje Wing.
Privately, Birdsey also received requests for paintings from collectors in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom—and commissions from clients including the Bermuda Department of Tourism and Greeff Fabrics in the United States.
Aside from painting in watercolours and oils, and doing silkscreen work on fabrics and murals, Birdsey also created lithographs. He had a lifelong fascination with the lithographic process, and even constructed a lithographic press with his son-in-law, Sjur Linberg. He also experimented with papermaking with his daughter, Jo.
He was a founding member of the Society of Artists in Bermuda, the forerunner of today’s Bermuda Society of Arts, the oldest arts organisation on the Island.
He was a 1985 recipient of the Queen’s Certificate and Badge of Honour for “valuable services given to Her Majesty for more than 40 years as an artist of Bermuda”, as well as a 1992 recipient of the Bermuda Arts Council’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
Birdsey passed away on January 6, 1996 at the age of 83. He was buried at St. Paul’s Church, Paget.
In 2006, he was a posthumous recipient of the Bermuda Arts Council’s Founders Award in recognition of his status as “one of the foundation stones on which Bermuda’s arts were built.”
