Dennis Miller Bunker (November 6, 1861–December 28, 1890) was an American painter and innovator of American Impressionism. His mature works include both brightly colored landscape paintings and dark, finely drawn portraits and figures. One of the major American painters of the late 19th century,^[1] a friend of many prominent artists of the era, Bunker's life was cut short by meningitis at the age of 29. is the 310th day of the year (311th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1861 (MDCCCLXI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Sunday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... is the 362nd day of the year (363rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1890 (MDCCCXC) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar). ... Painting by Rembrandt self-portrait Detail from Las Meninas by Diego Velazquez, in which the painter portrayed himself at work For the computer graphics program, see Corel Painter. ... Impressionism, a style of painting characterized by loose brushwork and vivid colors, was practiced widely among American artists in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. ... Landscape art depicts scenery such as mountains, valleys, trees, rivers, and forests. ... Roman-Egyptian funeral portrait of a young boy A portrait is a painting (portrait painting), photograph (portrait photography), or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expression is predominant. ... Sitting nude (1993) oil on canvas by Frans Koppelaar Figure painting is a form of the visual arts in which the artist uses a live model as the subject matter of a two-dimensional piece of artwork using paint as the medium. ... Meningitis is the inflammation of the protective membranes covering the central nervous system, known collectively as the meninges. ...

Jessica, 1890. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Paul Gauguin, Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? (Doù venons-nous? Que faisons-nous? Où allons-nous?) (1897). ...

Life

Bunker was born in New York City to Matthew Bunker, the secretary-treasurer of the Union Ferry Company, and his wife, Mary Anne Eytinge Bunker. In 1876 he enrolled at the Art Students' League and the National Academy of Design. By 1880 he was participating in the annual exhibitions of the National Academy, the American Watercolor Society, and the Brooklyn Art Association. New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... The Art Students League is the name of several American art schools or associations for promotion of art education For the New-York-based school (founded 1875), presumed model for the others, see Art Students League of New York For the Denver-based school and association, see Art Students League... The National Academy of Design, in New York City, now called simply The National Academy, is an honorary association of American artists, with a museum and a school of fine arts. ...

In 1882 Bunker left New York to study at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, most notably with Jean-Léon Gérôme. In the spring of 1883, accompanied by fellow students Charles A. Platt and Kenneth R. Cranford, Bunker left Paris to travel through the French countryside and the coast of Normandy, returning to continue his studies in mid-October. The following year the three artists summered and painted in Brittany. By year's end Bunker had returned to New York. cole des Beaux Arts refers to several art schools in France. ... Pollice Verso by Jean-Léon Gérôme, 1872, is the immediate source of the thumbs down gesture in popular culture. ... Charles Adams Platt (New York October 16, 1861–Cornish, New Hampshire September 12, 1933 was a prominent landscape gardener and architect of the American Renaissance movement, who introduced formal gardens of Italianate design to an American audience, with his influential book Italian Gardens (1893). ... For other uses, see Normandy (disambiguation). ... Historical province of Brittany, showing the main areas with their name in Breton language The traditional flag of Brittany (the Gwenn-ha-du), formerly a Breton nationalist symbol but today used as a general civic flag in the region. ...

In 1885 Bunker was elected to the Society of American Artists. In October of that year, at the recommendation of J. Carroll Beckwith, he moved to Boston to teach at the Cowles Art School, where he was the chief instructor of figure and cast drawing, artistic anatomy, and composition. He lived and taught in the art school building. Concurrently Bunker was given his first solo exhibition, at Noyes and Blakeslee Gallery in Boston. Despite these successes, Bunker was homesick for France, and wrote of feeling "supremely ridiculous" in "this atmosphere of wealth and respectability".^[2] While meager finances prevented him from staying in Boston during the summer, let alone traveling to Europe, Bunker did accept an invitation from Abbott Handerson Thayer to join him and paint in South Woodstock, Connecticut in 1886. In that year he also met Isabella Stewart Gardner, who would prove to be a valuable friend and patron. The Society of American Artists was formed in 1877 by artists who felt the National Academy of Design did not adequately meet their needs, and was too conservative. ... Nickname: City on the Hill, Beantown, The Hub (of the Universe)1, Athens of America, The Cradle of Revolution, Puritan City, Americas Walking City Location in Massachusetts, USA Counties Suffolk County Mayor Thomas M. Menino(D) Area    - City 232. ... A Virgin, painted allusion to Winged Victory of Samothrace Abbott Handerson Thayer (August 12, 1849 – 1921), American artist, was born at Boston, Massachusetts. ... South Woodstock is a census-designated place located in Windham County, Connecticut. ... Isabella Stewart Gardner (1888), by John Singer Sargent. ...

Bunker painted portraits during the winter of 1887, and spent the summer with artist friends in Newburyport, Massachusetts. In November he met John Singer Sargent in Boston, during the latter's first working trip to America. In 1888 Bunker undertook a number of portrait commissions of important Bostonians, including members of the Gardner family, Samuel Endicott Peabody, and J. Montgomery Sears. Bunker spent the summer in England, where he joined Sargent and his family in Calcot, painting during the day and playing tennis in the evening. Newburyport is a small coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, 38 miles (61 km) northeast of Boston. ... Self Portrait, 1906, oil on canvas, 70 x 53 cm, Uffizi Gallery, Florence. ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... Calcot is a suburb of Reading, near to Junction 12 of the M4 motorway, in the English county of Berkshire. ...

The Pool, Medfield, 1889. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

During the spring of 1889 Bunker resigned from the Cowles Art School. At a reception he met Eleanor Hardy, whom he would marry the following year. In the summer Bunker stayed at a boarding house in Medfield, Massachusetts, and enjoyed his most productive season of painting. In the fall he returned to New York, writing daily to Hardy in Boston. By this time, Bunker's circle of friends included not only Sargent, Gardner, and Platt, but Thomas Wilmer Dewing, William Merritt Chase, Stanford White, William Dean Howells, Charles Martin Loeffler, and Augustus Saint-Gaudens, as well. Medfield is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. ... Summer (1890), Smithsonian American Art Museum Thomas Wilmer Dewing (May 4, 1851 – November 5, 1938) was an American painter working at the turn of the 20th century. ... William Merritt Chase (November 1, 1849 - October 25, 1916) was an American painter known as an exponent of Impressionism and as a teacher. ... Stanford White (1853-1906) Washington Square Arch New York American on June 25, 1906 Stanford White (November 9, 1853 – June 25, 1906) was an American architect and partner in the architectural firm of McKim, Mead, and White, the frontrunner among Beaux-Arts firms. ... William Dean Howells (March 1, 1837 – May 11, 1920) was an American realist author. ... Charles Martin Loeffler (1861-1935) German-born American composer. ... Augustus Saint Gaudens, 1905 Augustus Saint-Gaudens (Dublin, March 1, 1848 - Cornish, New Hampshire, August 3, 1907), was the Irish-born American sculptor of the Beaux-Arts generation who most embodied the ideals of the American Renaissance. ...

In 1890 Bunker first exhibited his impressionist landscapes at the St. Botolph Club in Boston. He received an offer to teach at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and planned to take over William Merritt Chase's class in Brooklyn that winter. In June he visited the art colony at Cornish, New Hampshire, and in July returned to paint further at Medfield. On October 2 Bunker married Eleanor Hardy in Boston. The couple then moved to New York. Returning to Boston to celebrate Christmas with the Hardy family, Bunker fell ill. On December 28 he died of heart failure, probably caused by cerebro-spinal meningitis. Platt and other friends organized a memorial exhibition at the St. Botolph Club, held in 1891. Metropolitan Museum of Art New York Elevation The Metropolitan Museum of Art, often referred to simply as the Met, is one of the worlds largest and most important art museums. ... Cornish is a town located in Sullivan County, New Hampshire. ...

Work

The paintings of Bunker's early maturity in New York (ca. 1880-82) were often marine subjects, featuring a series of beached boats, painted on Long Island. In these he followed the standard academic practice of first painting loose, preparatory sketches (Beached, ca. 1881-2) prior to more conventionally finished exhibition pieces. The early portraits (Portrait of Walter Griffin, 1881, Portland Museum of Art) also evidence rigorous craftsmanship. This article is about the island in New York State. ... Oil sketch modello by Tiepolo, 69 x 55 cm, for this five metre high altarpiece An Oil sketch is an artwork made primarily in oil paints, and which is more abbreviated in handling than a fully finished painting. ...

While studying in Paris, Bunker's summer excursions to the countryside resulted in another series, this time of scenes of Larmor, a town in Brittany. The focus of these compositions, be it church spire (Brittany Town Morning, Larmor, 1884, Terra Foundation for American Art), cemetery cross, or a lone tree (Tree, 1884-5, private collection), was invariably that of a richly painted, dark graphic shape against a bright sky. Nevertheless, the pictures are characterized by soft atmospheric effects and tonal subtlety. No less subtle are the landscapes Bunker painted after returning to America; paintings done in South Woodstock, Connecticut (Pines Beyond the Fence, 1886, private collection) still favor dramatic value contrasts, with subjects carefully painted against a light sky, but the palette has grown lighter, the color more saturated.^[3]

By 1887 Bunker completed his Portrait of Anne Page, a painting requiring much labor, but one of his most poignant works.^[4] In its restrained use of color, delicate modeling of form, and aesthetic elegance it is reminiscent of the works of Thayer and James Mcneill Whistler. There soon followed the Boston commissions, portraits mostly of male sitters--still somber in tone, they are painted in a more confident manner, suggesting the influence of Sargent (Portrait of George Augustus Gardner, 1888, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston). Self portrait (1872) James Abbott McNeill Whistler (July 11, 1834 – July 17, 1903) was an American-born, British-based painter and etcher. ...

Portrait Sketch of Eleanor Hardy Bunker, 1890. Private collection.

That Bunker spent the summer of 1888 painting with Sargent is verified by personal correspondence, as well as through several pieces by the latter artist (Dennis Miller Bunker Painting at Calcot, 1888, Terra Foundation for American Art), but no paintings of the English sojourn by Bunker have survived; possibly he destroyed them in dissatisfaction.^[5] However, once back in Boston the experience came to fruition, for over the next two years Bunker produced a series of canvases which evidenced that he was one of the first American artists to fully understand and successfully practice impressionism.^[6] In the Greenhouse, ca. 1888, Chrysanthemums, 1888 (Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum), The Pool, Medfield, 1889 (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston), and Meadow Lands, 1890 (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) all feature a rich palette, vertiginous compositions, and his unique "fish hook" shaped brush strokes.^[7]

At the same time, Bunker's last figure pieces remained faithful to his academic training. Jessica, 1890 (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston), The Mirror, 1890 (Terra Foundation for American Art), and Eleanor Hardy Bunker, 1890 (Metropolitan Museum of Art) are characterized by a restricted color range and heightened elegance.

Legacy

Although highly regarded during his lifetime, the 20th century assessment of American Impressionism was largely negative, and Bunker's work was all but forgotten soon after his death. His teachings influenced a number of painters (upon his resignation from the Cowles school, his students wrote a letter of appreciation, urging him to reconsider),^[8] among whom were William McGregor Paxton and Lilla Cabot Perry. It was a student of Paxton's named R. H. Ives Gammell who did the most to maintain Bunker's reputation, organizing two exhibitions at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston in the 1940s, and publishing a biography in 1953. The current revival of interest in his work is the result of a less programmatic reassessment of 19th century art: William McGregor Paxton (1869-1941) was an American Impressionist painter. ... Self-Portrait (1892) Lilla Cabot Perry, (January 13, 1848 – February 28, 1933), was one of the first American artists to embrace impressionism during the late 19th century. ... Robert Hale Ives Gammell (1893-1981), American muralist, portrait painter, art teacher, and writer on art, was born in Providence, Rhode Island in 1893. ...

"Thus, depending upon the viewpoint of the writer, Bunker can be seen as either a traditionalist or an innovator. In truth, he was both". ^[9]

Notes

References

• Hirshler, Erica E., et al, Dennis Miller Bunker: American Impressionist, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1994.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Dennis Miller Bunker

• Dennis Miller Bunker papers at the Smithsonian Archives of American Art