Who is she?
In 1942 Evelyn married Roger Folley, in civilian life a horticultural economist but in wartime an RAF officer. Roger Folley came from Colne, a small town in Lancashire, where his father, Ebenezer Folley (universally known as 'Uncle Eb'), was a retired primary school head teacher. He was also a widower, his wife Sarah - Roger Folley's mother - having died in 1948. He was also my grandfather.
In 2013 this imposing portrait appeared, among the countless boxes and portfolios of Evelyn's residual work, untouched after being deposited in the cone of a Kentish oast house for some 50 years. Its appearance was a great surprise, because its existence was only known previously through a photograph dating from about 1960, and even then it hadn't been ascribed to Evelyn.
Sharp-eyed readers will have noticed the painting in the top right-hand corner. (To its left is another portrait from Evelyn's hand: a 1948 study of her husband, Roger Folley. After Evelyn's death he presented this portrait to Manchester Art Galleries, changing the title to The Cerebrant, meaning 'the thinker'.)
On its first appearance from its oast loft it wasn't clear how this canvas could have anything to do with Evelyn. It wasn't a Folley family portrait, or it would have stayed within the family; yet here it was, with a Folley provenance, a cuckoo in a Dunbar nest. Things became clearer when, on turning the picture over, my grandfather's long-remembered handwriting on the verso revealed that he'd written 'The Old Schoolmistress (by Evelyn Dunbar - unfinished)'. This at least established some kind of authenticity. But what was the back story?
We have to conjecture to some extent. Clearly it had been in Eb Folley's possession, but why? And why was it unfinished? Leaving aside any romantic attachment my grandfather had for the lady, a possible reconstruction is that at some time in the 1950s this person, a headmistress in the Colne area, retired. As a retirement presentation gift, it was suggested by the local retired teachers' association (President: E.W.Folley) that a portrait be commissioned of the new retiree. The President suggested that his daughter-in-law, the well-known artist Evelyn Dunbar, might be approached with a view to carrying out the commission. So far, so plausible, but for unknown reasons Evelyn left it unfinished and the portrait was never presented. It reverted to Eb Folley, who hung it proudly in his front room.
Verso of 'The Old Schoolmistress' inscribed 'by Evelyn Dunbar (unfinished)' by E.W.Folley
Why was it never presented? Why didn't Evelyn finish it? In 2014 attempts were made to answer these and other questions, especially concerning the identity of the lady, via the readership of The Colne Times and its times past correspondent, Geoff Crambie. No sexa- or septuagenarian memories were unlocked. The reach of this blog probably hardly compares with that of The Colne Times, but if any reader has any ideas about the origins of this very fine portrait, please contact me via the comments box below.
The story perhaps doesn't end there. Evelyn died in 1960, at about the same time as Eb Folley downsized to a small flat, reducing his effects. Among them was 'The Old Schoolmistress', which Roger Folley recovered, took home with him to Kent and included with Evelyn's residual studio.
This very incomplete and conjectural account might totter to close by adding that, perhaps as a token of thanks, in the summer of 1956 Eb Folley, together with two other unidentified members, sponsored his daughter-in-law for admission as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. It's not recorded that Evelyn ever exercised her Fellowship.
Text ©Christopher Campbell-Howes 2022
by Christopher Campbell-Howes
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