A painter, writer, and teacher, Bernard Dunstan was best known for his depictions of figures in interiors and landscapes. Born in 1920, he has been the longest surviving member of the Royal Academy* in London, having joined in 1959. In the early days, he was a writer for the Academy magazine In that city, he trained in 1939 at the Byam Shaw School of Art, now known as the Central Saint Martins School, and from 1939 to 1941 at the Slade School of Art*. In 1947, he became an elected member of the New English Art Club, an organization formed in 1886 by young English artists returning from Paris who had adopted the ‘radical’ style of Impressionism*. Art Club members initially flaunted the conservative members of the Royal Academy, but today it is part of the Federation of British Artists*, which embraces nine art societies, all dedicated to academic refinement and strongly set against modernist, abstract art.
As a teacher Dunstan was at the Royal West of England Academy from 1946 to 1949, Camberwell School of Art from 1950 to 1964, Byam Shaw School from 1953 to 1974, Ravensbourne College of Design from 1959 to 1964, and City and Guilds of London Art School from 1964 to 1969.
He is the author of many books including Painting Methods of the Impressionists (1976), Composing Your Paintings (1971); Starting to Paint Portraits (1979); Strating to Paint Still life (1969).
His artwork is in the collections of the National Portrait Gallery, the Royal Collection, and the Museum of London. His wife is Diana Armfield, a painter and also a member of the Royal Academy. “The couple, who met at art school during the War, had lost touch until Diana saw a painting of Bernard’s in the 1947 show. ‘I had liked the look of him since I first saw him in a drawing class,’ she confides. ‘So I sent him a postcard saying how much I admired his work in the summer show and he came straight up to London from Bristol to see me.’ Ever since then, the couple has been creatively and romantically connected. Both 85, and boasting two long careers and three children between them, they still paint every day. Each morning since they married over 50 years ago has begun with Bernard doing a quick nude drawing of Diana: ‘It keeps my mind active,’ he smiles.”
-Royal Academy Magazine