Kate Bunce

 L’incontro casuale, Kate Bunce, olio su tela, 66 x 88,9 cm, collezione privata .

Il dipinto si ispira alla poesia di Rossetti “Una iscrizione”, contenuto nella raccolta “La casa della vita”:

Guardami in faccia; il mio nome è Avrei-potuto-essere;
Io mi chiamo anche Non-più, Troppo-tardi, Addio;
Accosto al tuo orecchio la conchiglia di un mare morto
Gettata ai tuoi piedi, avvolti nella spuma della Vita;

Ai tuoi occhi lo specchio ove si vede
L’aspetto della Vita e dell’Amore, ma per incantesimo,
non è che un’ombra rotta, intollerabile,
fragile custodia delle ultime cose senza vita.

Guardami qual sono! Ma potrebbe per un attimo
Brillare, attraverso la tua anima, la dolce sorpresa
Di quella Pace alata che culla il ritmo dei sospiri, -

Mi vedresti allora sorridere, e volgeresti il viso
All’agguato teso al tuo insonne cuore
Con gelidi occhi, pieni di ricordi.

Kate Elizabeth Bunce (25 August 1856 – 24 December 1927) was an English painter and poet associated with the Arts and Crafts movement.

The St Alban reredos, and a 1938 silver tabernacle

The daughter of John Thackray Bunce – a patron of Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery and editor of the Birmingham Post during its Liberal heyday – Bunce was born in Birmingham and educated at home. She studied at the Birmingham School of Art in the 1880s, first exhibiting artworks with the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists in 1874 and with the Royal Academy from 1887. ^[1] She was elected as an associate of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists in 1888 and many of her works were displayed in a number of Birmingham churches.^[2]

Her earliest known work is The Sitting Room (1887), and in 1893 Bunce was one of the artists invited to contribute murals to hang in Birmingham Town Hall. Her initial style was that of the Birmingham School, where she was a prizewinning student during the 1880s.^[3] Her work became increasingly influences by Burne-Jones, Rossetti and the Pre-Raphaelites, and was characterised by strong figure drawing and a clear use of colour. Later in her life she painted a series of decorative pieces in churches, often alongside metalwork by her sister Myra Bunce.^[4] She exhibited her work across England between the years 1887-1912 in London, Manchester, Birmingham and Liverpool.^[3] Her reredos in the church of St Alban's, Bordesley features many species of birds.

Bunce lived all of her life in Edgbaston and died unmarried.^[4]

References[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kate Bunce.

1. Jump up^ Marsh, Jan (2004). "Bunce, Kate Elizabeth (1856–1927)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Online Edition ed.). Oxford University Press. Retrieved 2008-12-17.
2. Jump up^ Hill, Joseph; Harper, Edward S.; Midgley, William (1929). The history of the Royal Birmingham Sociey of Artists, with a Chapter of personal reminiscence by Edward S. Harper. Cornish Brothers Ltd. p. 59.
3. ^ Jump up to:^a b "Kate Elizabeth Bunce - Biography". ArtMagick. Retrieved 4 November 2012.
4. ^ Jump up to:^a b Gaze, Delia, ed. (1997). "Bunce, Kate (Elizabeth)". Dictionary of Women Artists. Taylor & Francis. pp. 334–335. ISBN 1-884964-21-4.

The Keepsake (1898-1901), Tempera on canvas.