Harry Barr

Who was Harry Barr?

Harry Barr was a painter. He produced a large body of work, the majority in watercolour.

He studied at the Westminster School of Art where he was taught by the artist Walter Sickert and earned his diploma in 1915. Sickert remained an artistic mentor and a friend until he died in 1942. Barr was also good friends from childhood with David Bomberg until Bomberg's death in 1957.

Harry Barr's first London exhibition was held in a Bloomsbury gallery in January 1920. Later in that year he moved to Paris. In Paris he befriended the sculptor Ossip Zadkine, who helped him find a studio. He had his first exhibition of oil paintings in Paris at the Galerie Mouninou on the Rue Marbeuf.

Watercolour became Barr's main medium around 1939. He focused on painting nature. Among his most frequent subjects were trees that took on an anthropromorphic character. He painted all manner of landscapes and seascapes. His often pastoral scenes have been described as having "an economy of tone and statement that is positively Japanese".

Barr also produced many drawings in pencil. He had a fondness for animals, spending hours drawing at London Zoo. A particular favourite, pigs, were often the focus of a painting expedition – he was not shy of getting into the sty to paint them.