Clarke, Gill.

Evelyn Dunbar. War and Country.

Bristol, Sansom and Co, 2006. 27cm. 176 pages. Original Softcover. Secondhand book in very good condition.

Evelyn Dunbar was devoted to nature and the natural world and in particular the garden, which was rooted in her affection for the Kentish landscape. That she did not seek publicity, was modest about her achievements and did not see herself as part of a clique have all contributed to the neglect of her work. Dunbar’s most successful and extensive body of work dates from the Second World War when she was commissioned by the War Artists’ Advisory Committee. She thus became the only woman, on a salaried basis, to record women’s activities on the Home Front. She is especially known for her lyrical but unsentimental paintings of the Women’s Land Army. These provide an important documentary record of women’s contribution to the war effort. Like many other war artists she tended to fall out of sight of the mainstream, modernist art world following the cessation of hostilities. Marking the centenary of Dunbar’s birth, this unique and authoritative biography celebrates for the first time the range of her achievement. Sumptuously illustrated, it is an important text for all those interested in twentieth-century British art and culture. Drawing extensively on interviews with family members, correspondence and newly located archives, the author focuses on Dunbar’s career from illustrator and mural painter to war artist and teacher at The Ruskin School of Drawing and of Fine Art, Oxford. Evelyn Dunbar was a fine draughtswoman and her powers of observation and wry, gentle wit were well used in her illustrative work. Each chapter explores a different period in her life, revealing the variety of her work and demonstrating her profound understanding and love of the countryside. (Publishers information).

• Keywords: Art
• Language: English
• Inventory Number: 400828AB

EUR 48,--