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Charles Ragland Bunnell1930s WPA Era Graphite Drawing, American Modern City Scene of Houses on Hill, COcirca 1935
circa 1935
About the Item
Graphite on paper drawing by Charles Ragland Bunnell (1897–1968), circa 1935, featuring a modernist cityscape of houses on a hill in Colorado. This artwork, created during the 1930s WPA era, captures the essence of American modernism. The piece is presented in a custom hardwood frame with archival materials and UV-protectant glass, measuring 21 x 21 ½ x ½ inches, with the image size at 22 x 25 ¾ inches.
Provenance: Estate of the artist, Charles Ragland Bunnell. The drawing is in excellent vintage condition, and a detailed condition report is available upon request.
About the Artist:
Charles Bunnell was an artist and teacher known for his wide range of artistic styles. He worked in both representational and abstract imagery, incorporating the emerging modernist trends from New York and Europe. Bunnell’s style evolved over his lifetime, influenced by the significant cultural shifts of his time, including his experiences with the WPA and his association with artists like Boardman Robinson and Ernest Lawson. He was also an advocate for abstract expressionism, notably introducing Colorado Springs to this style in the late 1940s.
Bunnell’s artistic journey was deeply personal, shaped by both professional challenges and personal tragedies, such as the loss of his son in 1938. His early works often depicted Colorado’s landscapes and mining towns, but by the 1940s, his art had begun to reflect surrealism and transcendental themes.
Throughout his career, Bunnell exhibited widely, with solo shows at major institutions like the New Mexico Museum of Art and the University of Illinois. His work is held in collections at various museums, and he was a beloved instructor, mentoring numerous artists in his Colorado Springs studio until his passing in 1968.
- Creator:Charles Ragland Bunnell (1897-1968, American)
- Creation Year:circa 1935
- Dimensions:Height: 21 in (53.34 cm)Width: 21.5 in (54.61 cm)Depth: 0.5 in (1.27 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Framing:Frame IncludedFraming Options Available
- Condition:Very good to excellent vintage condition. Detailed condition report available upon request.
- Gallery Location:Denver, CO
- Reference Number:Seller: 134811stDibs: LU27312493462
Charles Ragland Bunnell
Charles Bunnell developed a love for art at a very young age. As a child in Kansas City, Missouri, he spent much of his time drawing. When he was unable to find paper he drew on walls and in the margins of textbooks for which he was often fined. Around 1915, Bunnell moved with his family to Colorado Springs, Colorado. He served in World War I and later used his GI Training to study at the Broadmoor Art Academy (later renamed the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center) during 1922 and 1923. In 1922, he married fellow student, Laura Palmer. He studied with Ernest Lawson in 1927-1928 and, in the winter of 1928-1929, he served as Lawson’s assistant. In the late 1920’s, the Bunnell’s settled just west of Colorado Springs and 1928, they welcomed the first of their three children. Their one-acre homesite, which they referred to as “Old Home Place”, was situated between two sets of railroad tracks at the foot of Pike’s Peak. Charlie converted an old railroad boxcar into his studio, where he later gave lessons. Beginning in 1931, Bunnell spent a year and a half studying under Boardman Robinson. The two men clashed constantly due to a generation gap and markedly different philosophies. Robinson encouraged his students not to stray from realism and though Bunnell mastered Robinson’s preferred style of American Scene painting, he regularly irritated his professor with his abstract sketches. Bunnell taught at the Kansas City Art Institute during the summers of 1929, 1930, 1940, and 1941. Between 1934 and 1941, he painted and taught under federal projects which included assisting Frank Mechau on murals for the Colorado Springs Post Office. However, he did not take to mural making and, after criticism from Boardman Robinson about his use of “heavy daubs which have no place in mural work,” he abandoned mural-making altogether. By the late 1930’s, Bunnell’s work departed from the American Scene/Modernist style he was trained in towards abstraction. This is marked by his “Black and Blue” series, consisting of 83 abstracted ink and watercolors. Affected by the Second World War and the loss of his 10-year old son, Bunnell’s work of the early 1940’s took on a Transcendental and Surrealist tone. The works from this period are moody and readily reflect the political and personal turmoil experienced by the artist. In the late 1940’s, Bunnell began experimenting with Abstract Expressionism. He alone is credited with introducing Colorado Springs to the new style as it was excluded from the Fine Art Center’s curriculum by Boardman Robinson. Bunnell excelled in Abstract Expressionism and continued to evolve in the style through the 1950’s continuing to his death in 1968. He was recently recognized as a premier American Abstract Expressionist by his inclusion in the book American Abstract Expressionism of the 1950’s: An Illustrated Survey. © David Cook Galleries, LLC
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