# Mercy Hunter > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Mercy_Hunter > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Mercy_Hunter.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercy_Hunter > Source revision: 1343252135 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|Northern Irish artist (1910–1989)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox artist | honorific_prefix = | name = Mercy Hunter | honorific_suffix = HRUA, PPRUA, ARCA, MBE | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | birth_name = Martha Saie Kathleen Hunter | birth_date = 22 January 1910 | birth_place = [Belfast](/source/Belfast), [Ireland](/source/Ireland) | death_date = {{Death date and age|1989|07|20|1910|01|22}} | death_place = [Dungannon](/source/Dungannon), [County Tyrone](/source/County_Tyrone), [Northern Ireland](/source/Northern_Ireland) | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = | education = [Belfast School of Art](/source/Belfast_School_of_Art) | alma_mater = [Royal College of Art](/source/Royal_College_of_Art) London | known_for = | notable_works = | style = | movement = | spouse = [George Galway MacCann](/source/George_Galway_MacCann) | awards = | elected = | patrons = | memorials = | website = | module = }} '''Mercy Hunter''' ''HRUA PPRUA ARCA MBE'' (22 January 1910 – 20 July 1989) was a Northern Irish artist, calligrapher and teacher. Hunter was a founding member of the [Ulster Society of Women Artists](/source/Ulster_Society_of_Women_Artists), where she was later to become president and she was also a past president of the [Royal Ulster Academy of Arts](/source/Royal_Ulster_Academy). ==Early life== Mercy Hunter was born in Belfast on 22 January 1910, one of five children of William Hunter, a Presbyterian minister, and his Russian-born wife Alice Beyer. Hunter was christened Martha Saie Kathleen, but was always known as Mercy. Her parents served as missionaries in China, with Hunter travelling to [Manchuria](/source/Manchuria) at the age of four. She spent her childhood there, leaving to attend secondary school in [Toronto](/source/Toronto), Canada, and at [Belfast Royal Academy](/source/Belfast_Royal_Academy).{{cite book|last1=Lunney|first1=Linde|title=Dictionary of Irish Biography|date=2009|publisher=Cambridge University Press|editor1-last=McGuire|editor1-first=James|location=Cambridge|chapter=Hunter, Mercy|editor2-last=Quinn|editor2-first=James}} She went on to attend [Belfast College of Art](/source/Ulster_University) from 1927 to 1929, and won a scholarship to the [Royal College of Art](/source/Royal_College_of_Art) in London from 1930 to 1933 where she studied under the calligrapher [Edward Johnston](/source/Edward_Johnston).{{Cite book|last=Buckman|first=David|title=Artists in Britain since 1945, Volume 1, A to L|date=2006|publisher=Art Dictionaries Ltd|isbn=978-0-9532609-5-9|edition=|location=Bristol|pages=792|oclc=77011785}} Whilst in London she befriended numerous Ulster artists, including [William Scott](/source/William_Scott_(artist)), [F. E. McWilliam](/source/F._E._McWilliam), [Crawford Mitchell](/source/Crawford_Mitchell), and her future husband, the sculptor [George MacCann](/source/George_Galway_MacCann). Hunter returned to Belfast in 1937, and married MacCann the following year.{{cite web|last1=Newmann|first1=Kate|title=Mercy Hunter (1910 - 1989): Artist, Calligrapher and Teacher|url=http://www.newulsterbiography.co.uk/index.php/home/viewPerson/725|website=The Dictionary of Ulster Biography|accessdate=30 June 2015}} ==Artistic career== Hunter spent the majority of her career as an art teacher in a number of grammar schools in Northern Ireland such as [Dungannon High School for Girls](/source/Royal_School_Dungannon), County Tyrone, [Banbridge Academy](/source/Banbridge_Academy), County Down, and Armagh High School.{{cite web|title=Mercy Hunter 1910 - 1989|url=http://www.threebelfastartists.com/Mercy_Hunter/Mercy_Hunter.html|accessdate=30 June 2015|website=Three Belfast Artists}} She became the head of art at [Victoria College, Belfast](/source/Victoria_College%2C_Belfast) in 1947, where she remained until her retirement in 1970.{{Cite book|last=Snoddy|first=Theo|title=Dictionary of Irish Artists: 20th century|publisher=Merlin|year=2002|isbn=1-903582-17-2|location=Dublin|pages=276}} In the spring of 1944 Hunter showed portraits in pencil and watercolour, as well as some landscapes, alongside her brother at Pollock's Gallery in Belfast.{{Cite news|last=|first=|date=29 March 1944|title=Picture exhibition: works by Colonel John and Miss Mercy Hunter|page=3|work=Belfast Newsletter|url=https://britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk|access-date=12 February 2021}} Hunter also began a life-long relationship with the Ulster Academy of Arts in 1944 when she participated in their annual exhibition for the first time, by showing three portraits. She was to exhibit with their successor organisation, the Royal Ulster Academy of Arts throughout her life, and missed only three annual exhibitions in the thirty years between 1950 and 1980.{{Cite book|last=Stewart|first=Ann M|title=Irish art societies and sketching clubs: index of exhibitors, 1870-1980, A-L|publisher=Four Courts Press|year=1995|isbn=1-85182-327-1|volume=1|location=Dublin|pages=358}} Hunter served as President of the RUA from 1976-1977, having previously been honoured by her appointment as Associate of the RUA in 1948 and as an Academician in 1967.{{Cite book|last=Anglesea|first=Martyn|title=Royal Ulster Academy of Arts Diploma Collection|publisher=RUA Trust Ltd.|year=2000|isbn=0-900903-54-6|location=Belfast|pages=118}} She was bestowed with an MBE in 1970 for her services to art and education. Hunter is best known for her calligraphy, illuminated addresses, and a small number of illustrated books, including her husband's 1942 book ''Sparrows Round my Brow''.{{cite web|title=Celebrating Belfast Women|url=http://www.wrda.net/documents/celebrating%20belfast%20women%20renaming%20the%20streets%20project.pdf|website=Women's Resource & Development Agency|accessdate=30 June 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150701063803/http://www.wrda.net/documents/celebrating%20belfast%20women%20renaming%20the%20streets%20project.pdf|archive-date=1 July 2015|url-status=dead}} She also created costume designs for the local theatres and for [Patricia Mulholland's](/source/Patricia_Mulholland) Irish ballet company. Hunter designed all the costumes for the Grand Opera Society of Northern Ireland's 1958 production of ''Carmen'', when it was said that she had already created 200 designs for production up until this date. In 1965 Hunter joined twelve Ulster artists including [Alice Berger Hammerschlag](/source/Alice_Berger_Hammerschlag), [Basil Blackshaw](/source/Basil_Blackshaw), [Colin Middleton](/source/Colin_Middleton), [Romeo Toogood](/source/Romeo_Toogood), and [Olive Henry](/source/Olive_Henry) in an exhibition of diverse landscape paintings at the Arts Council Of Northern Ireland Gallery.{{Cite news|date=10 August 1965|title=Ulster artists' work on show|page=4|work=Belfast Telegraph|url=https://britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk|access-date=27 February 2021}} Hunter donated a picture to an exhibition to raise funds for victims of civil disturbances in Belfast in the autumn of 1969. The exhibition at Queen's University was organised by [Sheelagh Flanagan](/source/Sheelagh_Flanagan) and showed the work of [T P Flanagan](/source/T.P._Flanagan), [William Scott](/source/William_Scott_(artist)), [F. E. McWilliam](/source/F._E._McWilliam), [Deborah Brown](/source/Deborah_Brown), [Cherith McKinstry](/source/Cherith_McKinstry), and [Carolyn Mulholland](/source/Carolyn_Mulholland) as well as more than twenty others.{{Cite news|last=Rosenfield|first=Ray|date=30 October 1969|title=30 artists in show to aid riot victims|page=10|work=Irish Times|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/archive/1969/1030/Pg010.html#Ar01007|access-date=5 April 2021}} Hunter received an honorary Master's degree from [Queen's University Belfast](/source/Queen's_University_Belfast) in 1975 at the same time as her long-term collaborator Patricia Mulholland.{{Cite news|last=|first=|date=8 July 1975|title=Campus cash crisis worse in the UK, says Sir Arthur|page=4|work=Belfast Telegraph|url=https://britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk|access-date=12 February 2021}} The wife of the Northern Irish Secretary of State Colleen Rees was the curator of a personal selection of works from Ulster Artists hosted at the Leeds Playhouse Gallery in 1976. Hunter's work was among 49 works from various artists where she displayed alongside [Raymond Piper](/source/Raymond_Piper), Carolyn Mulholland, Joe McWilliams, TP Flanagan, [Tom Carr](/source/Thomas_Carr_(artist)) and many others.{{Cite news|date=14 September 1976|title=Mrs Rees view of Ulster|page=3|work=Belfast Telegraph|url=https://britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk|access-date=20 March 2021}} Hunter was amongst the founding members, and a past president of the Ulster Society of Women Artists, and exhibited frequently with the Ulster Watercolour Society. Owing to her numerous lectures and broadcasts, Hunter was a well known figure to the Northern Irish public. After her retirement Hunter continued to teach art history at Rupert Stanley College, continued to design costumes{{Cite news|last=Bell|first=Jane|date=31 January 1981|title=Every picture tells a story|page=10|work=Belfast Telegraph|url=https://britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk|access-date=12 February 2021}} and she also became a trustee of the [Ulster Museum](/source/Ulster_Museum). Hunter showed a number of works including ''Main Gate: the Citadel Gozo'' and ''Church at Jordina Halsa Gozo,'' with Joy Clements, [George C Morrison](/source/George_Morrison_(cricketer)), Wilfred J Haughton, Robin McCully and Tom Kerr at the Malone Gallery, Belfast in 1982.{{Cite news|last=Baird|first=Elizabeth|date=8 March 1982|title=Art: a style that is almost timeless|page=10|work=Belfast Telegraph|url=https://britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk|access-date=27 February 2021}} ==Death and legacy== Hunter died on 20 July 1989, in hospital in [Dungannon](/source/Dungannon). The [Ulster History Circle](/source/Ulster_History_Circle) unveiled a plaque to Hunter on 3 November 2010, at her former address of 23 Botanic Avenue, Belfast, where she had lived for many years from 1949 until forced to move when a car-bomb destroyed the premises in September 1972.{{Cite news|last=Burns|first=John|date=10 November 1972|title=No.23 was a meeting place, a happy place, before the bomb went off...|page=14|work=Belfast Telegraph|url=https://britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk|access-date=12 February 2021}} Hunter's works are held by many public and private collections including the Ulster Museum, Down County Museum and [Grand Opera House](/source/Grand_Opera_House%2C_Belfast), Belfast. ==References== {{Reflist}} {{Authority control (arts)}} == External links == * [https://www.rosss.com/artist/mercy-hunter-rua/results/328/ Examples of work in private collections via Rosss.com] {{DEFAULTSORT:Hunter, Mercy}} Category:1910 births Category:1989 deaths Category:20th-century Irish painters Category:20th-century women artists from Northern Ireland Category:Alumni of the Royal College of Art Category:Alumni of Ulster University Category:Artists from Belfast Category:Painters from Northern Ireland Category:Women painters from Northern Ireland Category:People educated at the Belfast Royal Academy Category:Alumni of Belfast School of Art Category:Members of the Royal Ulster Academy Category:Women calligraphers Category:20th-century women painters Category:Members_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Mercy Hunter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercy_Hunter) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercy_Hunter?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.