Bernard Dunstan
{{Short description|British artist, teacher, and author (1920–2017)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2015}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2015}}
{{infobox artist
| image =
| caption =
| name = Bernard Dunstan
| honorific_suffix = {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|RA|PPRWA|NEAC|HonPS|}}
| birth_name = Andrew Harold Bernard Dunstan
| birth_place = Teddington, Middlesex, England
| birth_date = {{birth date|1920|1|19|df=y}}
| death_place =
| death_date = {{death date and age|2017|8|20|1920|1|9|df=y}}
| education = {{ubl|item_style={{longitem}}|Colet Court|St Paul's School, Erik Sthyr|Byam Shaw School of Art (1939), Francis Ernest Jackson|Slade School of Fine Arts (1939–41), Allan Gwynne-Jones|}}
| known_for = {{hlist|Artist|teacher|author}}
| spouse = {{marriage|Diana Armfield|1949}}
| children = 3
| father = Dr Albert Dunstan
| mother = Louisa Cleaverley
| elected = {{ubl|item_style={{longitem}}|New English Art Club (1947)|RWA Academician (1940s)|Royal Academician (9 July 1968)|President of the RWA (1979–84)|}}
}}
Bernard Dunstan (19 January 1920 – 20 August 2017) was a British artist, teacher, and author, best known for his studies of figures in interiors and landscapes.{{Cite web |title=Remembering Bernard Dunstan (1920-2017) |url=https://www.newenglishartclub.co.uk/news/56-remembering-bernard-dunstan-neac-ra-rwa-ps-hon/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230212141832/https://www.newenglishartclub.co.uk/news/56-remembering-bernard-dunstan-neac-ra-rwa-ps-hon/ |archive-date=12 Feb 2023 |website=NEAC {{!}} New English Art Club}}{{Cite web |title=Bernard Dunstan {{!}} Chris Beetles |url=https://www.chrisbeetles.com/artist/619 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230212142802/https://www.chrisbeetles.com/artist/619 |archive-date=12 Feb 2023 |website=Chris Beetles Gallery}} At the time of his death, he was the longest serving Royal Academician.[http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/ra-magazine/spring2006/academy/out-to-lunch-bernard-dunstan-and-diana-armfield,76,RAMA.html Interview from Royal Academy Magazine, Spring 2006] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080630195404/http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/ra-magazine/spring2006/academy/out-to-lunch-bernard-dunstan-and-diana-armfield%2C76%2CRAMA.html |date=30 June 2008 }}
Life and work
Bernard Dunstan was born in Teddington, Middlesex, in 1920.[http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/academicians/painters/bernard-dunstan-ra,150,AR.html Biography, Royal Academy] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080105082158/http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/academicians/painters/bernard-dunstan-ra%2C150%2CAR.html |date=5 January 2008 }} He studied at Byam Shaw School of Art in 1939, then at the Slade School of Fine Art in London from 1939 to 1941. In 1947 he was elected a member of the New English Art Club, and was president of the Royal West of England Academy from 1979 to 1984.[http://www.rwa.org.uk/bdunst.htm RWA website] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080404180645/http://www.rwa.org.uk/bdunst.htm |date=4 April 2008 }} In 1968 he was made a full member of the Royal Academy.
Dunstan taught at the Royal West of England Academy in Bristol from 1946 to 1949, the Camberwell School of Art from 1950 to 1964, the Byam Shaw School from 1953 to 1974, the Ravensbourne Art College (now the Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication) from 1959 to 1964, and City and Guilds of London Art School from 1964 to 1969.
Artists whose influence informed his painting include Renoir, Bonnard, Vuillard, Walter Sickert, and Philip Wilson Steer.RWA website
His works are represented in the National Portrait Gallery, the Royal Collection, Windsor, and the Museum of London. He wrote a number of books on painting, including Painting Methods of the Impressionists (1976).
Personal life
Dunstan was married to fellow painter and Royal Academician Diana Armfield,RA website who survives him. Thy shared a home in Kew, south-west London{{Cite magazine |date=Summer 2021 |author= Bethel, Claire|title=Interview with local artist, Diana Armfield |url=https://mcusercontent.com/ba3306019a38caf7ead351ce3/files/2151ecad-202b-20f6-8f47-f5766e6f7b3a/Kew_Newsletter_Summer_2021.pdf |magazine=The Kew Society Newsletter |access-date=14 April 2025}}
He died on 20 August 2017, aged 97.{{Cite news|author= Masters, Christopher|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2017/sep/10/bernard-dunstan-obituary|title = Bernard Dunstan obituary|work = The Guardian|date = 10 September 2017|access-date = 14 April 2025}}{{cite news|url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/f30264b0-9bd4-11e7-a368-e81633b9ffb4 |title=Bernard Dunstan|access-date = 14 April 2025|date = 18 September 2017|work = The Times}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20080129073752/http://www.uwe.ac.uk/amd/archive/dunstan.htm Biography and images, University of the West of England]
- [http://www.racollection.org.uk/ixbin/indexplus?_IXACTION_=file&_IXFILE_=templates/full/person.html&_IXTRAIL_=Academicians&person=5633 Profile on Royal Academy of Arts Collections]
- {{Art UK bio}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dunstan, Bernard}}
Category:20th-century English male artists
Category:20th-century English painters
Category:21st-century English male artists
Category:21st-century English painters
Category:Alumni of the Byam Shaw School of Art
Category:Alumni of the Slade School of Fine Art
Category:British modern artists
Category:English male painters
Category:Members of the Royal West of England Academy
Category:People from Kew, London