Evelyn Dunbar - Legacy

Legacy

Dunbar's obituary in The Times of 16 May 1960 is more notable for what is left out than what is included. After concentrating on her contribution to the Brockley murals, her origins and her education, there is a brief mention of her War Artists' Advisory Committee work before concluding: 'Living a retired life in Kent, absorbed in country pursuits, Miss Dunbar did not often come before the public in mixed exhibitions, but her mural paintings and illustrations, with their peculiar authenticity of work inspired by the ruling passion, appealed strongly to those who knew it'.

The obituarist wrote from what was readily known about Dunbar at the time. In fact Dunbar worked continually, and there is nothing to suggest that at any time in her career did her output slacken, except for brief holiday periods, and even then it was impossible for her to leave her sketch-book behind. Her oil paintings were her prime product, but she left behind many portfolios of water colours, drawings, pastels, sketches and other secondary work, most of which disappeared shortly after her death and have not so far come to light. She rarely discarded anything.

Dunbar was no self-publicist and showed no great interest in the promotion of her work. She had an arrangement with a London dealer, so far unidentified, but her submission of work was too sporadic for the relationship to be commercially viable. Folley said of her that she was her own most severe critic, but this may only have been true up to a point: pressed for time, as she often was to complete her WAAC paintings, she could submit work which, although commendably strong and inventive in compositional terms, lacked the finish of canvases on which she had been able to devote more time. Her system of signature could be equally inconsistent. Her earliest work she signed fully, 'Evelyn Dunbar'. This she sometimes shortened to 'E Dunbar' for some of her WAAC paintings (not all were signed), and latterly she signed herself 'ED'. Only in one circumstance did she sometimes sign herself 'EF' (i.e. Evelyn Folley): on the series of Christmas cards from 1942 to 1959, which she designed and for which Folley wrote verses. Occasionally her work was labelled by her on the back of the canvas or the frame. Sometimes it was authenticated by Folley. It has been claimed of her that she only signed what she considered finished work. It could be equally well argued that the formal self-attribution that signature implies was not important to her, especially with work produced for her own pleasure or that of close friends.

Dunbar strongly resisted being labelled as belonging to any movement. She acknowledged certain influences, like the narrative element (without the underlying moralising) in Pre-Raphaelite painting. To some extent she saw herself in the tradition of southern English landscape painting. She admired the work of Paul Nash and of her contemporaries Eric Ravilious, Edmund Bawden, John Ward (both of whom she knew quite well), and particularly Stanley Spencer. She tried to like John Piper. She identified with Duncan Grant and the fringes of the Bloomsbury group, partly through her acquaintance with Vita Sackville West and the gardens of Sissinghurst Castle in Kent. Late in her life she was commissioned to paint the White Garden at Sissinghurst, but it is unlikely that this was carried out.

Dunbar and Folley went on holiday occasionally, often to gratify Folley's love of mountains and associated activities, climbing and hill-walking in the Lake District and the Cairngorms, skiing in the Alps. In the summer of 1956 they spent some weeks on the Italian Riviera. Folley hoped that these wider horizons, contrasting strongly with the landscapes of south-east England, would be reflected in Dunbar's work to its advantage, but the most that came out of them was a few sketches. Dunbar's faith, work and commitment was too firmly rooted in the richer earths of the garden of England.

In 1961 a memorial window in stained glass, designed by her friend and colleague John Ward, and now in the Old Hall, Wye College, was dedicated to Dunbar. The design incorporates Dunbar's paintings of flowers. It is inscribed 'In memory of Evelyn Dunbar. Painter and friend of the College 1906-1960.'

Bibliography, sources, references, etc.

There is a regrettable dearth of sources and references. The only authoritative biography is Dr Gill Clarke's Evelyn Dunbar: War and Country (Sansom and Co. Ltd., Bristol 2006).

An exhibition of Dunbar's work, curated by Dr Clarke, was held at the St Barbe Museum and Gallery, Lymington, Hampshire, in 2006.

Other references:

Harriet Booth: Evelyn Dunbar and the English Tradition (Post Graduate Diploma on Art Gallery and Museum Studies: University of Manchester, 1994)

Christopher Campbell-Howes: Evelyn Dunbar 1906-1960: A Memoir http.//evelyndunbar.tumblr.com

The Times obituary, May 16, 1960

Roger Folley: Evelyn Dunbar: The Husband's Narrative (unpublished, 2007)