Untitled (BC-105)

Curator’s reflection

Among the many portraits in The Broome Collection, BC-105 carries a particularly personal connection. The inscription appears to read “To My Friend Mr. Reid,” transforming the work from simply a portrait into what seems to have been a tribute from Broome to someone he knew and respected.

Mr. Reid is understood to have been a principal at the school where Broome taught, and the two were reportedly good friends. With that context, the portrait takes on a different meaning. The sitter’s steady gaze and composed expression suggest familiarity rather than distance, the observation of one person by another who knew him beyond the surface.

Broome’s extraordinary use of yellow gives Mr. Reid an almost luminous presence. Thick, expressive brushstrokes surround and become part of the face, while the warmer reds and greens near the bottom frame the personal inscription. Rather than seeking photographic realism, Broome seems more interested in capturing the presence and character of the person before him.

BC-105 offers something especially meaningful within the collection: a surviving record of friendship. Whatever experiences Broome and Mr. Reid shared during their years in education, Broome chose to preserve that relationship in the language he knew best, paint.

Looking closer

Notice how Broome builds the face almost entirely through layers of yellow, allowing the eyes to become the portrait’s strongest point of connection. Most revealing, however, is the inscription “To My Friend Mr. Reid,” suggesting this was not simply a subject Broome painted, but someone he personally valued.

A moment to reflect

Sometimes friendship leaves behind no great monument, only the quiet evidence that one person mattered enough for another to remember. He left more than paintings. He left a life painted in brushstrokes.

WHB Virtual Museum