About Henry Branford

Henry Branford has always been interested in history. As a boy in England, he was fascinated by the early people who settled the British Isles-Celts, Romans, Vikings, Angles, Saxons, and Normans. After his family moved to Vermont in 1957, young Henry continued his love affair with history, only this time American history. Reaching back one or two centuries and connecting with people and events that he could understand and almost touch was easier for him than trying to understand people two thousand years ago. And, it was as close to living the history as he could get.

Back in the 1960's, as the interstate highway system was pushing its way through Vermont, Henry was in high school working weekends and summers at a local farm. He could see changes coming to northern New England, and not just an increase in automobile traffic. With the discouraging economics of family farming that finally cumulated in the Whole Herd Buyout Program, he witnessed the closing of many small Vermont dairy farms. These events accelerated a process that was changing the way the land was used and the way local people interacted within the community.

However, before this way of life completely vanished, Henry had a unique opportunity to talk to many old Vermonters. They told him stories about the "old days," about parents and grandparents and extended families of aunts and uncles living together on the family farm. And of a time before automobiles, electricity, and government programs. They told him that the family and the community were the support systems, and everyone worked and socialized together in order to get through the hard times, which always seemed to be around the corner. But there were fun times, too. Simple pleasures such as fishing, swimming, family picnics, or just having the day off were enjoyed in a time when the world moved at a different pace.

These stories along with many old photographs became the foundation for Henry Branford's folk style paintings. In 1992 Henry began to paint in acrylic on wood, successfully selling in Vermont shops and galleries. Recently, he has been painting in acrylic on claybord. This medium produces excellent results on an acid free, Ph neutral surface that provides the best investment for collectors of these unique paintings. Henry is a self-taught painter and an accomplished artist. He has developed his own signature style in which he creates a scene that represents a moment in time. Combining images from sepia colored photographs as well as his own imagination, he composes a turn-of-the-century picture, drawing people and buildings in a new setting in order to make an original composition. The image is then painted in beautiful color; and by doing so, Henry brings to life the plain black-and-white images.
Henry Branford's paintings are found in collections throughout the United States as well as New Zealand and Japan, and he was included in this year's juried Stratton Arts Festival.