Historical information

Neville Mirvane Bunning was born in Rockhampton, Queensland in 1902. He was home taught until 1916 and then was a boarder at Geelong Grammar School, Victoria until 1921.
He then returned to Queensland and worked on the family property. During this time he built ceramic kilns and taught himself the required skills for ceramiic production. During the Depression he went to Sydney and set up an artist's studio.
In 1934 he went to England and studied, wrote and did commission work. Achieving local success and had work acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Neville returned to Australia and became a lecturer at East Sydney Technical School until the outbreak of the Second World War. He joined the RAAF.
After the War he joined the staff of the Art School of the Ballarat School of Mines and Industries until his retirement in 1964.
Neville Bunning formed the Ballarat Artist's Society, a group which sponsored art and invite guests to speak to students and the public of Ballarat.
He wrote a weekly column in "The Courier", the local newspaper where he encouraged people to be more aware of the trends in art.
His works were included in the 1988 Australian Bicentennial Exhibition.
His sympathetic understanding of Aboriginal culture is recorded in a letter written in 1937 to the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Neville Bunning continued painting during his retirement. His last major exhibition was held at the Golden Age Gallery in Ballarat in 1983.
The sketch books cover a range of topics using pen, ink and watercolour.

Physical description

28 A3 sketch books, spiral bound