Irene Mary Bache (23 March 1901 – 24 May 1999) was a British artist. Although born in London, and widely travelled, Bache lived and established her career in Wales, in and around

Swansea Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea ( cy, links=no, Dinas a Sir Abertawe). The city is the twenty-fifth largest in ...

Biography

Bache was born in

Brockley Brockley is a district and an wards of the United Kingdom, electoral ward of south London, England, in the London Borough of Lewisham south-east of Charing Cross. History The name Brockley is derived from "Broca's woodland clearing", a wood ...

in south London, the eldest of the four children born to Charles Bache, an insurance clerk and his wife Emily, both of whom were amateur painters. The family moved to

Reigate Reigate ( ) is a town status in the United Kingdom, town in Surrey, England, around south of central London. The settlement is recorded in Domesday Book in 1086 as ''Cherchefelle'' and first appears with its modern name in the 1190s. The earlie ...

in 1904 and Irene Bache went on to study at the

Croydon School of Art Croydon College is a large further and higher education college located in Croydon, within the London Borough of Croydon. Its origins can be traced to a School of Art that was established in 1868, which subsequently merged with Croydon Polytechnic ...

, the

Central School of Arts and Crafts The Central School of Art and Design was a public school of fine and applied arts in London, England. It offered foundation and degree level courses. It was established in 1896 by the London County Council as the Central School of Arts and Cr ...

and

Camberwell School of Art Camberwell College of Arts is a public tertiary art school in Camberwell, in London, England. It is one of the six constituent colleges of the University of the Arts London. It offers further and higher education programmes, including postgradu ...

. She taught art in a series of schools in

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...

Worthing Worthing () is a seaside town in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 111,400 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Brighton and Hov ...

and Whitchurch before lecturing for a short time at the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design university in the United Kingdom. It offe ...

. In 1942 Bache was appointed head of the Arts and Crafts department at Swansea College of Education, a post she retained until her retirement in 1966. She brought radical ideas on pupil participation to the teaching of art and was active as an artist in her own right. She participated in a number of group shows in Swansea and

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

and became active within the Swansea Art Society serving as both its Chair' and Vice-President at different times. She had a solo exhibition at the

Glynn Vivian Art Gallery The Glynn Vivian Art Gallery is the public art gallery of the City and County of Swansea, in Wales, United Kingdom. The gallery is situated in Alexandra Road, near Swansea railway station, opposite the old Swansea Central Library. History The ...

in Swansea during 1954 and the College of Education mounted a retrospective to mark her retirement in 1966. After her retirement, Bache set up a private studio and continued to teach and paint, specialising in landscapes and botanical subjects. She continued to participate in group shows and exhibited at the

National Eisteddfod of Wales The National Eisteddfod of Wales (Welsh language, Welsh: ') is the largest of several eisteddfodau that are held annually, mostly in Wales. Its eight days of competitions and performances are considered the largest music and poetry festival in Eur ...

in 1974. In 1981 she published and illustrated ''Gower Poems'', a volume inspired by the

Gower Peninsula Gower ( cy, Gŵyr) or the Gower Peninsula () in southwest Wales, projects towards the Bristol Channel. It is the most westerly part of the historic county of Glamorgan. In 1956, the majority of Gower became the first area in the United Kingdom ...

where she was living. She supplied illustrations for a 1992 volume on wild mushrooms. Solo shows of her work were held to mark her ninetieth birthday both at the Glynn Vivian Gallery and elsewhere in Swansea.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bache, Irene 1901 births 1999 deaths 20th-century British painters 20th-century British women artists Alumni of Camberwell College of Arts Alumni of the Central School of Art and Design Alumni of Croydon College Artists from London Artists from Swansea People from Brockley