Many years ago an iconic painting was made and it touched the hearts of our townsfolk.
That portrait was “Bubbles” by Sir John Millais, a famed artist who served as President of the Royal Academy, and it exhibited at a local chemist.
If you visit Prince Street you can still see the building where the picture was put on view between June 25 and July 7, 1928.
The address (number 7) is currently empty and is next door to Three Brass Monkeys. It has a long history and was the Belmont Hotel before it became Taylors’ Drug Store after WW1.
The chemist was a major stockist for Messrs A & F Pears who had paid £2,200 for “Bubbles” in 1886. I wonder how much it is worth today?
Millais’s depiction – of a child blowing soap bubbles with a bubble pipe – became famous when it was used over successive generations in advertisements for Pears’ soap.
Bridlington, a top 10 UK holiday destination in the 1920s, was given the honour of exhibiting the work as part of a promotional tour.
Prince Street is still one of the town’s main tourist streets. It is a shame an empty shop can’t be turned into an art museum.
This postcard reproduction of “Bubbles” was sold to advertise the upcoming exhibition. It was backed by a special customer offer, which proudly declared: “A miniature tablet of Pears’ Golden Glory will be presented FREE to all purchasers of Pears’ products during the Demonstration.”
I wonder how many bars of soap were sold that week in Bridlington?
Painted in 1886, “Bubbles” captures the innocence of late 19th-century childhood and was modelled by the artist’s five-year-old grandson William Milbourne James, who
looks up in awe of a bubble he has just blown.
William grew up to become a British naval admiral and was forever known to his friends and colleagues as “Bubbles”.
Originally titled “A Child’s World” the portrait led to fierce worldwide debate about the relationship between art and advertising.