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
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''.
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