Frank Henry Bartels


Frank Henry Bartels was an Australian pen-and-ink artist and engraver.

Early life and education

Frank Henry Bartels was born in Adelaide on 18 February 1867, the second son of Adolph Bartels, 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, he began working as a clerk. He received no formal art tuition.
Bartels established a studio at the family home in Hurtle Square, where public attention was drawn to his painstaking etchings and watercolours. 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.
In 1893 Bartels exhibited several pen-and-ink sketches with the Adelaide Easel Club that were admired, and later that year exhibited, at Fritz and Bernard's Art Palace, 62 Rundle Street, 92 views of South Australian scenery, including several watercolours.
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.

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, penmanship and illuminated lettering. Examples include:

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.

Family

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