Evelyn Mary Dunbar
Encyclopedia
Evelyn Mary Dunbar was a British
war artist
. She was the only salaried woman artist of the painters and sculptors employed during World War II
by the War Artists Advisory Committee (WAAC) Her businesslike production of official war art uniquely documented women's engagement with the war, especially "land girls" recruited to the Women's Land Army
.
on 18 December 1906.
Educated at Rochester Grammar School for Girls, Dunbar’s first foray into commercial artistry was illustrating children's stories. Prior to 1939, while still a student at The Royal College of Art, she worked collaboratively as a muralist, most significantly, in Brockley
, Kent
at Brockley Boys' School. Up to and during the production of 'The Brockley Murals' she had a close, if not romantic, association with her tutor, the artist Charles Mahoney (1903–1968). An enthusiastic gardener, she collaborated with Mahoney to write and illustrate Gardeners’ Choice (Routledge, 1937). Routledge had already noted the potential of Evelyn Dunbar as an illustrator when she added little pen and ink chapter motifs to The Scots Weekend and Caledonian Vade-Mecum for Host, Guest and Wayfarer, a 'cultural Scots holiday guide' edited by Donald and Catherine Carswell (1936).
A later collaborative publication was A Book of Farmcraft (Longmans, 1942) with Michael Greenhill, a recruiter of Land Army girls at Sparsholt training centre out of which Dunbar's 'official war paintings' issued.
In 1942 Dunbar married a Royal Air Force
auxiliary operative, Roger Folley, who was employed during and after World War II
as an agricultural economist. The marriage was childless, but the couple became foster parents in the mid to late 1950s, fostering first one young boy then another adolescent during school holiday periods. The boys came from The Caldecott Community, a residential school for 'the maladjusted' founded by Leila Rendel and Phyllis Potter in 1911.
In 1956 ‘ED’, as she tended to sign her paintings, accepted an invitation by Dora Cohen, the charismatic founder principal of Bletchley Park Training College in Buckinghamshire
to paint two large commemorative panels for the college library. The panels were based on Dunbar's interpretation of the College emblem, a ‘horn and alpha within omega symbolism'. This referred to the College motto “In my end is my beginning”.
Dunbar, who was a Christian Scientist, continued to receive commissions for portraiture
and landscape painting up to her sudden death at age 54, which occurred while she was out strolling with her husband on the North Downs
combe
below their home in Hastingleigh
, Kent
. Roger Folley died in 2008 at age 95, after a short illness.
, Tate Britain
, Arts Council of Great Britain
, Cambridgeshire County Council
, UK Government Art Collection, Wye Agricultural College, Kent (now merged into Imperial College London
), Manchester Art Gallery
, Oxford Brookes University
, the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum in Bournemouth
, the Tullie House Museum
as well as by private individuals in Britain and abroad.
An Evelyn Dunbar retrospective at the St. Barbe Museum and Art Gallery in Lymington
, Hampshire
in November 2006 coincided with the publication of Dr. Gill Clarke's "Evelyn Dunbar - War & Country". Dr. Gill Clarke further curated a second exhibition entitled "The Women's Land Army
- A Portrait" complementing a new publication and exhibition of the same name at the St. Barbe Museum in November 2008.
British people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
war artist
War artist
A war artist depicts some aspect of war through art; this might be a pictorial record or it might commemorate how "war shapes lives." War artists have explored a visual and sensory dimension of war which is often absent in written histories or other accounts of warfare.- Definition and context:A...
. She was the only salaried woman artist of the painters and sculptors employed during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
by the War Artists Advisory Committee (WAAC) Her businesslike production of official war art uniquely documented women's engagement with the war, especially "land girls" recruited to the Women's Land Army
Women's Land Army
The Women's Land Army was a British civilian organisation created during the First and Second World Wars to work in agriculture replacing men called up to the military. Women who worked for the WLA were commonly known as Land Girls...
.
Biography
Evelyn Mary Dunbar was born in ReadingReading, Berkshire
Reading is a large town and unitary authority area in England. It is located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, and on both the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway, some west of London....
on 18 December 1906.
Educated at Rochester Grammar School for Girls, Dunbar’s first foray into commercial artistry was illustrating children's stories. Prior to 1939, while still a student at The Royal College of Art, she worked collaboratively as a muralist, most significantly, in Brockley
Brockley
Brockley is a district of south London, England, located in the London Borough of Lewisham. It is situated south-east of Charing Cross.It is covered by the London postcode districts SE4 and SE14.-History:...
, Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
at Brockley Boys' School. Up to and during the production of 'The Brockley Murals' she had a close, if not romantic, association with her tutor, the artist Charles Mahoney (1903–1968). An enthusiastic gardener, she collaborated with Mahoney to write and illustrate Gardeners’ Choice (Routledge, 1937). Routledge had already noted the potential of Evelyn Dunbar as an illustrator when she added little pen and ink chapter motifs to The Scots Weekend and Caledonian Vade-Mecum for Host, Guest and Wayfarer, a 'cultural Scots holiday guide' edited by Donald and Catherine Carswell (1936).
A later collaborative publication was A Book of Farmcraft (Longmans, 1942) with Michael Greenhill, a recruiter of Land Army girls at Sparsholt training centre out of which Dunbar's 'official war paintings' issued.
In 1942 Dunbar married a Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
auxiliary operative, Roger Folley, who was employed during and after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
as an agricultural economist. The marriage was childless, but the couple became foster parents in the mid to late 1950s, fostering first one young boy then another adolescent during school holiday periods. The boys came from The Caldecott Community, a residential school for 'the maladjusted' founded by Leila Rendel and Phyllis Potter in 1911.
In 1956 ‘ED’, as she tended to sign her paintings, accepted an invitation by Dora Cohen, the charismatic founder principal of Bletchley Park Training College in Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
to paint two large commemorative panels for the college library. The panels were based on Dunbar's interpretation of the College emblem, a ‘horn and alpha within omega symbolism'. This referred to the College motto “In my end is my beginning”.
Dunbar, who was a Christian Scientist, continued to receive commissions for portraiture
Portrait painting
Portrait painting is a genre in painting, where the intent is to depict the visual appearance of the subject. Beside human beings, animals, pets and even inanimate objects can be chosen as the subject for a portrait...
and landscape painting up to her sudden death at age 54, which occurred while she was out strolling with her husband on the North Downs
North Downs
The North Downs are a ridge of chalk hills in south east England that stretch from Farnham in Surrey to the White Cliffs of Dover in Kent. The North Downs lie within two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty , the Surrey Hills and the Kent Downs...
combe
Combe
-English place names:* Combe, Berkshire* Combe, Buckfastleigh, Devon* Combe, Yealmpton, Devon* Combe, Herefordshire* Combe, Oxfordshire* Combe, Somerset-Places in England with combe as one word in part of their name:Cumbria* Black CombeDevon...
below their home in Hastingleigh
Hastingleigh
The small civil parish of Hastingleigh lies on top of the North Downs in Kent three miles east of Wye and ten miles south of Canterbury, near the locally renowned beauty spot of the Devil's Kneading Trough, on the North Downs Way with views towards Ashford, Romney Marsh and the Weald.Hastingleigh...
, Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
. Roger Folley died in 2008 at age 95, after a short illness.
Museums and galleries
Evelyn Dunbar’s paintings, drawings and other artwork are held by The Imperial War MuseumImperial War Museum
Imperial War Museum is a British national museum organisation with branches at five locations in England, three of which are in London. The museum was founded during the First World War in 1917 and intended as a record of the war effort and sacrifice of Britain and her Empire...
, Tate Britain
Tate Britain
Tate Britain is an art gallery situated on Millbank in London, and part of the Tate gallery network in Britain, with Tate Modern, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It is the oldest gallery in the network, opening in 1897. It houses a substantial collection of the works of J. M. W. Turner.-History:It...
, Arts Council of Great Britain
Arts Council of Great Britain
The Arts Council of Great Britain was a non-departmental public body dedicated to the promotion of the fine arts in Great Britain. The Arts Council of Great Britain was divided in 1994 to form the Arts Council of England , the Scottish Arts Council, and the Arts Council of Wales...
, Cambridgeshire County Council
Cambridgeshire County Council
Cambridgeshire County Council is the county council of Cambridgeshire, England. The council currently consists of 69 councillors, representing 60 electoral divisions. The Conservative Party has a majority on the council, having gained control in the 1997 local elections...
, UK Government Art Collection, Wye Agricultural College, Kent (now merged into Imperial College London
Imperial College London
Imperial College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom, specialising in science, engineering, business and medicine...
), Manchester Art Gallery
Manchester Art Gallery
Manchester Art Gallery is a publicly-owned art gallery in Manchester, England. It was formerly known as Manchester City Art Gallery.The gallery was opened in 1824 and today occupies three buildings, the oldest of which - designed by Sir Charles Barry - is Grade I listed and was originally home to...
, Oxford Brookes University
Oxford Brookes University
Oxford Brookes University is a new university in Oxford, England. It was named to honour the school's founding principal, John Brookes. It has been ranked as the best new university by the Sunday Times University Guide 10 years in a row...
, the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum in Bournemouth
Bournemouth
Bournemouth is a large coastal resort town in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. According to the 2001 Census the town has a population of 163,444, making it the largest settlement in Dorset. It is also the largest settlement between Southampton and Plymouth...
, the Tullie House Museum
Tullie House Museum
The Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery is a museum in Carlisle, Cumbria in England. Opened by the Carlisle Corporation in 1893, the original building is a converted Jacobean mansion, with extensions added when it was converted...
as well as by private individuals in Britain and abroad.
An Evelyn Dunbar retrospective at the St. Barbe Museum and Art Gallery in Lymington
Lymington
Lymington is a port on the west bank of the Lymington River on the Solent, in the New Forest district of Hampshire, England. It is to the east of the South East Dorset conurbation, and faces Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight which is connected to it by a car ferry, operated by Wightlink. The town...
, Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
in November 2006 coincided with the publication of Dr. Gill Clarke's "Evelyn Dunbar - War & Country". Dr. Gill Clarke further curated a second exhibition entitled "The Women's Land Army
Women's Land Army
The Women's Land Army was a British civilian organisation created during the First and Second World Wars to work in agriculture replacing men called up to the military. Women who worked for the WLA were commonly known as Land Girls...
- A Portrait" complementing a new publication and exhibition of the same name at the St. Barbe Museum in November 2008.
Sources
- Dr. Gill Clarke, MBE: Evelyn Dunbar, War and Country Sansom & Company Ltd. 2006
- Dr. Gill Clarke, MBE: The Women's Land Army - A Portrait Sansom & Company Ltd. 2008
External links
- St. Barbe Museum
- BBC Women’s Hour podcast
- University of Southampton
- Sansom & Company publishers
- The Women's Land Army - A Portrait 2008
- Telegraph.co.uk
- Amazon Books
- Liss Fine Art