Kate Elizabeth Bunce
British, 1858 - 1927
IMAGE GALLERY
6 pictures
Click image to learn more about each picture, or send as a free e-card
BIOGRAPHY
Kate Elizabeth Bunce was born in Birmingham in 1856, the daugher of John Thackray Bunce,
newspaper proprietor and chairman of the City Art Gallery. She was a prize-winning student
at Birmingham School of Art in the 1880s. Her first works seem to have been in the
direct, well-drawn manner of the Birmingham School, but she was soon drawn to the
Pre-Raphaelite mode.
Bunce exhibited from 1887 to 1912 in Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and London. In 1893
she was among the artists invited to contribute to a sequence of historical pictures for
Birmingham Town Hall (now lost). From 1888 an Associate of the Birmingham Society of
Artists, she was also a founder-member in 1901 of the Birmingham-based Society of Painters
in Tempera.
Her two best-known works Melody and The Keepsake chosen as "picture of the
year" at the 1901 New Gallery, and her association with the Birmingham Arts and Crafts
circle have led to Bunce's work being characterised as largely decorative, but her
painting also displays strong figure drawing and moderated colour.
A devout Christian, she produced several works for churches, often in conjunction with her
sister, a metalworker and watercolourist. From around 1910 she concentrated on large-scale
work for church interiors in Britain and Canada. She died in 1927 in Birmingham.
A selection of art exhibitions which have featured this
artist's work:
No messages have been posted about this artist. Post a new message (requires login).