El Poster

Maria Callas with her likeness

the lesser Egyptian jerboa

Admittedly, it may be a bit premature to label Bernard Dunstan as a “forgotten” artist as he is still alive and active. Nevertheless, this fine painter is certainly no household name. Indeed, I would have never come upon his work had I not been scouring the site devoted to the British Royal Academicians.

Bernard Dunstan was born in Teddington, Middlesex, in 1920. He studied at the Byam Shaw School of Art and the Slade School of Fine Art in London. Dunstan taught at the Royal West of England Academy in Bristol, the Camberwell School of Art, the Byam Shaw School from 1953 to 1974, the Ravensbourne Art College, and the City Guilds of London Art School. In 1968 he was made a full member of the Royal Academy and is currently the longest serving Royal Academician. Dunstan’s paintings can be found in the National Portrait Gallery, the Royal Collection, Windsor, and the Museum of London.

Dunstan is known for his paintings of landscapes and interiors with figures… often nude. His work clearly continues in the tradition of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism. Among the several books Dunstan has penned is one entitled, Painting Methods of the Impressionists. His work is deeply indebted to the paintings of English artists Walter Sickert and Philip Wilson Steer, the Impressionists, and the “intimiste” tradition of French painting exemplified by the work of Degas, Renoir, Vuillard, Bonnard, and to an extent, Matisse. His paintings frequently focus upon the domestic interiors… the private, personal, and erotic lives of his subjects.