Minnie Jane Hardman drew A Portrait of a Bearded Man in 1881 when she was 19 years old. The unknown, melancholic, bushy-bearded older man has a slightly furrowed brow. His thick eyebrows, where Hardman has captured the wispy, stray hairs in minute detail, are pulled together as if he is contemplating or observing something outside the picture frame. Diffused light illuminates his forehead and above it sits his mass of grey and white curls. The grainy, velvety qualities of Hardman's highly finished drawing indicate that it was rendered in charcoal and graphite – a typical choice for students at art school in the nineteenth century.
Portrait Head of a Bearded Man
1881
Minnie Jane Hardman (1862–1952) 
Enrolling at art school
Hardman won 'Third Grade Prize' at Islington School of Art for A Portrait of a Bearded Man, as evidenced by a label in the bottom-left corner. The same year, her tutor, Henry Thomas Bosdet, recommended her to the prestigious Royal Academy Schools (RA Schools). Founded in 1769, the RA Schools offered a seven-year course of free tuition – and significant artistic cachet – to selected artists who passed the rigorous admissions tests.
Study of the Discophoros (the Discus-Bearer)
1882–1883
Minnie Jane Hardman (1862–1952) 
But what was Hardman required to do, to gain a coveted place at this most respected, historic art school? First, she was required to submit an unfinished drawing 'of an undraped antique statue' for the approval of the Keeper of the RA Schools, then Frederick Pickersgill. Pickersgill's endorsement led to the next stage, where Hardman was given three months to produce, from the RA's collections, a set of drawings of the 'Undraped Antique Statue, together with an Outline Drawing or Drawings of the same figure anatomized, showing the bones and muscles.' For this important part of her application, Hardman chose a nineteenth-century cast of the Discophorus as her model. Her three drawings are clearly labelled 'EXAMINED / SCH. WORKS', revealing that they were approved by the RA Council.
Écorché of a Human Figure, Modelled on the Discophoros (the Discus-Bearer)
1882–1883
Minnie Jane Hardman (1862–1952) 
When Hardman was eventually admitted to the RA Schools in 1883, she was one of only 12 women. Coinciding with broader societal campaigns for women's equal rights to work and education, the RA Schools were open to women from 1860, when Laura Herford became the first woman to be (accidentally) admitted.
However, when Hardman enrolled 23 years after Herford, equal access to training had not been achieved and women were still barred from the Academy's life-drawing classes (and would be until 1893!). Though drawing from life was considered essential to formal artistic training, Victorian society deemed it immodest for women to study the nude figure. Some also thought women lacked the intellectual capacity for 'high' academic art and so were less likely to forge serious and successful careers as professional artists. Why foster women's professional ambition when 'genius' was defined as male, and women artists were expected not to succeed?
Anatomical Drawing of a Human Skeleton, Modelled on the Discophoros (the Discus-Bearer)
1882–1883
Minnie Jane Hardman (1862–1952) 
Drawing from the antique
Like many of her sex, Hardman had to find ways around these restrictions. In her formal studies, she turned to drawing statues and plaster casts of classical statues as one way in which she could improve her knowledge and understanding of the human figure. Ancient Greek and Roman sculpture was considered the foundation of high art in Europe in the nineteenth century, and formed a key part of every artist's training.
'The Wrestlers' or 'The Pancrastinae'
probably 1883
Minnie Jane Hardman (1862–1952) 
Hardman's study of The Wrestlers was probably made during her first year at the RA Schools. Measuring 63 centimetres high by 93 centimetres wide, this large drawing depicts The Wrestlers or The Pancrastinae, a plaster cast in the RA collection, made after a much-admired Roman, marble sculpture in the Uffizi Collection. In his Discourses on Art, Joshua Reynolds, the first President of the Royal Academy, explained why the sculpture 'is a remarkable instance; they are engaged in the most animated action with the greatest serenity of countenance.' In 1838, another Royal Academician, John Flaxman, praised the work in his Lectures on Sculpture as the greatest muscular display in violent action.
Lysippos (active c.370 BC–c.300 BC) (follower of) and Pergamene School 
Hardman's attempt at capturing this complex pose resulted in a painstakingly intricate drawing. She astutely manipulated the crumbly charcoal medium to create a diverse range of fluid and precise grey-to-black lines, forming the outline of the sculptural figures. To achieve the shading, particularly in the taut muscles, Hardman stroked or flattened the charcoal with a stump of paper or leather (rather than using her finger) and employed stippling to achieve the carefully smooth tone.
As charcoal does not contain a binding agent, Hardman used a high-quality wove paper as her support. This provided much-needed texture and prevented smudging. Though Hardman's source was a nineteenth-century plaster cast, the resulting drawing is a sophisticated, dynamic work that demonstrates her proficiency in rendering the most complex of male, muscular configurations.
Extracurricular classes?
Throughout the latter half of the nineteenth century, women students repeatedly but unsuccessfully petitioned the RA's all-male General Assembly to be allowed to study from the semi-draped figure. In her first year of study, Hardman was one of the 90 students and women artists who signed the 1883 petition to this end, though once again, this was rejected. Undeterred, several drawings made in this period reveal that Hardman was determined to pursue her study of the nude figure through extracurricular classes outside of the RA Schools.
Study of a Standing Female Nude, Seen from Behind
1883–1889
Minnie Jane Hardman (1862–1952) 
Study of a Standing Female Nude is quite different in style, material and medium to Hardman's highly finished academy drawings completed at Islington or the RA Schools. In this work, perhaps to maintain her and her model's sense of propriety, she depicts a full-length female nude from behind, her forearms pressed against the wall, her arms raised to head height.
The handling of this nude is quick and spontaneous; there is a distinct lack of stippling. The side of the charcoal stick has been used to rapidly create tone in the background. This work feels less like a demonstration of Hardman's ability to master the art of drawing, and more of a rapid exploration of the imperfect, real human body. A closer look and feel of this wove paper reveals that Hardman used a lighter-weight, cheaper support for these sketches. Pinpricks pierced into the corners of the paper reveal that she pinned them to a suitable surface, perhaps to use as preparatory studies alongside her formal schoolwork.
This and other nude drawings hint at Hardman's extracurricular classes, implying that, like many of her fellow female students, she had access to models beyond the RA School walls. This was not unusual; many women artists sought life drawing classes elsewhere, in the homes and studios of fellow women artists and their families, or by studying abroad.
Half-Length Study of a Semi-Draped Male
1883–1889
Minnie Jane Hardman (1862–1952) 
Beyond the RA
Minnie Jane Hardman graduated from the RA Schools in 1889. It was not until 1893 – 20 years after they submitted their first petition – that women students were finally granted permission to study the partially draped model. By this date, the dominance of the RA was being challenged by more liberal art schools such as the Slade School of Art in nearby Bloomsbury.
Founded in 1871, the Slade offered men and women equal training opportunities from the outset, and generations of women artists such as Gwen John, Edna Clarke Hall, Evelyn De Morgan and Ursula Tyrwhitt came to make up two-thirds of the student body. The RA Schools, which did not completely abolish gender segregation until 1903, appeared increasingly old-fashioned in comparison to their progressive counterparts.
Bust-Length Portrait of a Woman
1883–1889
Minnie Jane Hardman (1862–1952) 
Unfortunately, very little is known about Minnie Jane Hardman's professional life after her studies. In 1892, she took up a studio in Camden with fellow student Edith Martineau, and both artists turned to the relatively accessible medium of watercolour painting in an attempt to earn a living and carve out careers as professional artists.
Though the Royal Academy dismissed watercolour painting as a 'lower' genre than painting in oils, many women artists worked in this medium, capitalising on the fact that it required less equipment and could be practised almost anywhere. Hardman's watercolours from this period are picturesque landscape scenes; the formal qualities are akin to the country scenes by Helen Allingham, which likely appealed to urban consumers who yearned for images of rural England.
Bust-Length Portrait of a Woman
1883–1889
Minnie Jane Hardman (1862–1952) 
In 1893, Minnie Jane married the shipping clerk Henry Hardman, and after the birth of her son, Wilfred, one year later, she dropped almost entirely off the historical record. Marriage and motherhood very likely meant that Hardman had to devote her time to her domestic responsibilities: bringing up her son and managing the home.
With this in mind, her drawings made at the RA Schools take on even more significance, providing a rare insight into the training of a woman artist whose work and early career have been almost entirely forgotten. This corpus of academy drawings reveals though Minnie Jane Hardman's experience at the RA Schools was limited because she was a woman, she was deeply committed to pursuing an artistic education to the fullest degree, even if that meant she had to take instruction beyond their prestigious walls.
Hannah Lyons, Curator, University of Reading
This content was funded by the Bridget Riley Art Foundation
More information about Minnie Jane Hardman in the collection of the University of Reading is available on Bloomberg Connects.
Further reading
Tabitha Barber (ed.), Now You See Us: Women Artists in Britain 1520–1920, Tate Publishing, 2024
John Flaxman, Lectures on Sculpture, Kessinger Publishing, 1838
Joshua Reynolds & Robert W. Wark (ed.), 'Discourse X' in Discourses on Art, Yale University Press, 1981
