Obituary of Martin Hardie, CBE
Martin Hardie CBE (1875–1952) was an artist and art historian with a special interest in etching and engraving. He joined the Victoria & Albert Museum in 1898 as an Assistant in the Department of Engraving, Illustration and Design. He was promoted to Assistant Keeper in 1914 and Keeper in 1921, remaining in that position until he retired under the age limit in 1935, when he was created CBE.
From The Times, 22 January 1952
Mr Martin Hardie, CBE, formerly Keeper of the Department of Engraving, Illustration and Design in the Victoria and Albert Museum, died at his home at Tonbridge, Kent on Sunday at the age of 76.
Besides being a civil servant for 37 years, Hardie exercised his administrative abilities in several voluntary directions. He was, for example, the energetic honorary secretary of the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers and in 1935 he was appointed honorary treasurer of the Artists' General Benevolent Institution, being only the eighth holder of that office since the institution was founded in 1814.
The eldest son of the late James Hardie, MA, headmaster of Linton House School, he was born in London in 1875. He was educated at Linton House, St Paul's School and Trinity College, Cambridge, and in 1898 joined the staff of the Victoria and Albert Museum as an Assistant in the Department of Engraving, Illustration and Design. He was promoted to Assistant Keeper in 1914 and Keeper in 1921, remaining in that position until he retired under the age limit in 1935, when he was created CBE.
As nephew of both John Pettie RA and C Martin Hardie RSA, Martin Hardie may be said to have had an artistic ancestry. He studied etching under Sir Frank Short RA at South Kensington, began to exhibit at the Royal Academy in 1908 and continued to do so regularly as well as at the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers and the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours, of both of which bodies he was elected a member.
Under Hardie's keepership the Department of Engraving, Illustration and Design at South Kensington deepened in interest and expanded in scope to cover the whole range of the graphic arts, not only in the more obvious forms of drawing and engraving, but also in applications which had hardly been considered before. The collections of poster designs and of the art of the theatre, for example, are now famous. Upon the history of the British school of water-colour painting Hardie was a recognised authority.
Hardie's publications, in addition to the museum guides and catalogues which he compiled or edited, included 'English Coloured Books, Engraving and Etching' (translated from the German of Dr Lippman), 'John Pettie RA, The British School of Etching' and 'Charles Meryon and his Eaux-fortes sur Paris', the last two being special publications of the Print Collectors' Club of which he was the honorary secretary.
Reproduced with kind permission of The Times
©Times Newspapers Limited
