Bob Haberfield’s oranges

Bob Haberfield’s oranges where well known in the advertising industry. He developed a photo realistic style that was rare back in the day.

Bob was an illustrator in the golden age of hand painted illustrations. As he was approaching retirement he found that the jobs started to dry up, due to the invent of adobe photoshop and adobe illustrator, which meant that illustrating became more of a science and less of a craft. My Dad was quite happy that the work slowed down as the timing was perfect for him, so he was able to slip easily into retirement at exactly the right time with out having to turn any jobs away or let any clients down.

The first time I met My father after my parents separated when I was just a year old, was when I was 12. He had just returned to England after spending a couple of years in Australia where he is from. I used to visit him on weekends at his home and see what ever illustration he was working on on his desk by the window. one of the first illustrations of his that I saw was an orange on ice for Cointreau. I was amazed at the detail of the painting, id never seen anything like it, it looked like a photograph.

I asked him “why paint something like a photograph, isn’t it just easier to take a photograph?” he replied that “the fact that it is hand drawn gives it more mystique and more allure than a simple photo, it makes the viewer look closer and ask is that a photo or painted by hand, so they are already thinking about the image and what it is”

Bob Painted so many oranges throughout his career that they became second nature to him and he developed an intimate relationship with them where he knew the anatomy of an orange so well that he could paint them in any form; whole, cut in half, pealed, with leaves attached or in the tree, with out having to have an orange in front of him to paint from.

He painted oranges for juice companies, jams, cakes, liquor, tea, yogurts, jelly, if it had oranges in it you can bet bob did an orange illustration for it.

Bob Haberfield’s Oranges

work has started on 2 books about Bob haberfield’s life and works. the first book will be Bobs own selection of never seen before paintings and drawings from his private collection. The second book will focus on his commercial work, his record covers, his book covers and his illustrations. To subscribe to our mailing list for updates on the release of the books click here.

To read more about bob check out John guy Collick’s excellent Blog page

Some more examples of Bob Haberfield’s Oranges