Myra Louise Bunce (1854–1919) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

designer A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exp ...

and painter associated with the Arts and Crafts movement and the Pre-Raphelites.

Early life

1981P83 The Life Class Birmingham School of Art

Bunce was the elder daughter of

John Thackray Bunce John Thackray Bunce (11 April 1828 – 28 June 1899) was a British journalist and author. He served as editor of '' Aris's Birmingham Gazette'' from 1860 to 1862, and of the ''Birmingham Post'' from 1862 to 1898. Early years Bunce was bo ...

and Rebecca Ann Bunce, her younger sister Kate Bunce was also a painter. She was born in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

and studied primarily at the Birmingham School of Art (1879–1891) although she also submitted pieces for examination to

South Kensington School 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 off ...

. It was Birmingham School of Art that provided the springboard for Bunce's career as a designer; unusually it encouraged both men and women to design and make objects in a variety of materials and thus led to her interest in metalworking.

Career

Although Bunce worked as an artist, exhibiting pieces at the Royal Academy, the

Society of Women Artists The Society of Women Artists (SWA) is a British art body dedicated to celebrating and promoting fine art created by women. It was founded as the Society of Female Artists (SFA) in about 1855, offering women artists the opportunity to exhibit and ...

and also locally in Birmingham and Walsall, she is best known for her metalworking. In particular with her sister she created two reredos; one for St Mary's Longworth in Oxfordshire and another for St Albans Church, Birmingham. For both of these she created the hand beaten framing to hold the painted panels. The use of metal rather than moulded gesso is one of the features that distinguishes Bunce's work from that of her contemporaries. Amongst her other work is the frame that holds Kate Bunce's painting ''The Keepsake''. 1977P60 Untitled The Sitting Room

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bunce, Myra Louise 1854 births 1919 deaths 19th-century English painters 20th-century English painters 19th-century English women artists 20th-century English women artists Alumni of the Birmingham School of Art Artists from Birmingham, West Midlands English designers English women painters Metalworkers