Bernard Dunstan

British 1920 – 2017

Bernard Dunstan, the British artist, teacher, and author is best known for his studies of figures in interiors and landscapes. At the time of his death, Dunstan was the longest serving Royal Academician. Born in Teddington, Middlesex in 1920, he began his studies at Byam Shaw School of Art in 1939 and subsequently at the Slade School of Fine Art, London, from 1939 to 1941. He went on to teach at the West of England School of Art in Bristol from 1946 to 1949, Camberwell School of Art from 1950 to 1964, Byam Shaw School of Art from 1953 to 1974, Ravensbourne Art College from 1959 to 1964 and City and Guilds of London Art School from 1964 to 1969.

Dunstan exhibited regularly with the gallery Roland, Browse and Delbanco, London from 1952 to 1970, with Agnew’s, London, since 1972 and with Stremmel Gallery, Reno, Nevada, USA since 1981. During his career he exhibited annually at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition and the New English Art Club. Today, his work is held in many private collections.

Bernard Dunstan was elected Royal Academician in 1968, and was President of the Royal West of England Academy from 1979 to 1984. Dunstan wrote several books on painting, including ‘Learning to Paint’ (1970) and ‘Painting Methods of the Impressionists’ (1976). Bernard Dunstan was married to the painter Diana Armfield RA and lived and worked in Kew, Surrey.

Artists whose influence informed his painting include Renoir, Bonnard, Vuillard, Walter Sickert, and Philip Wilson Steer

Selected One-Man Exhibitions

Bernard Dunstan 1999
Stremmel Gallery, Reno, Nevada, USA 1996
Agnew’s, London 1993
Agnew’s, London 1990

Collections of Bernard Dunstan

Agnew’s, London
Aberdeen Art Gallery
Arts Council
Bristol Art Gallery
Museum of London
National Gallery of New Zealand
National Portrait Gallery
Plymouth Art Gallery
Rochdale Art Gallery
Royal Collection, Windsor