Charles Ragland Bunnell Landscape Drawings and Watercolors
American, 1897-1968
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
to
1
1
1
1
Overall Width
to
Overall Height
to
3
2
1
3
2
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
18
143
125
66
60
3
3
3
Artist: Charles Ragland Bunnell
WPA 1940s Framed Figurative Village Landscape with Figures, Houses & Mountains
By Charles Ragland Bunnell
Located in Denver, CO
This evocative watercolor painting, titled The Way War First Comes (1940), was created by noted American artist Charles Ragland Bunnell (1897-1968) during the Depression era. The pie...
Category
1940s American Modern Charles Ragland Bunnell Landscape Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Watercolor
1930s WPA Era Graphite Drawing, American Modern City Scene of Houses on Hill, CO
By Charles Ragland Bunnell
Located in Denver, CO
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 ...
Category
1930s American Modern Charles Ragland Bunnell Landscape Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Graphite
Georgetown, Colorado, 1938 WPA Era Ink Drawing of Rocky Mountain Landscape
By Charles Ragland Bunnell
Located in Denver, CO
This vintage 1938 ink drawing by Charles Bunnell (1897–1968) captures a stunning scene of a church nestled in the majestic Rocky Mountains of Georgetown, Colorado. Executed in bold black ink on creamy white paper, the piece is signed and dated by the artist in the lower right and titled in the lower left. The image size is 7 ¾ x 5 ¾ inches, and it is framed with archival materials, with outer dimensions measuring 16 ¼ x 14 ½ x 1 ¼ inches.
Condition:
The drawing is in good vintage condition, with no notable flaws. For a detailed condition report, please contact us directly.
Provenance:
This artwork comes from the estate of Charles Ragland Bunnell, ensuring its authenticity.
About Charles Bunnell:
Charles Bunnell was a prominent American artist whose career spanned multiple styles and influences. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, he moved to Colorado Springs around 1915, where he developed a love for art. After serving in World War I, Bunnell studied at the Broadmoor Art Academy (later renamed the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center), where he met his wife, Laura Palmer...
Category
1930s American Modern Charles Ragland Bunnell Landscape Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink
Related Items
Clinton Hill, Paris, Oct., 1951 (France), mid-century abstract gouache drawing
By Clinton Hill
Located in New York, NY
Clinton Hill (1922-2003), created quintessential mid-century images.
He lived in SoHo, New York, and was a frequent Gallery visitor.
Born in Idaho and raised on a working ranch, ...
Category
Mid-20th Century American Modern Charles Ragland Bunnell Landscape Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Gouache
Rainstorm Sunset
By Robert Noel Blair
Located in Buffalo, NY
You are viewing a modernist American watercolor painting by Robert Noel Blair.
Robert Noel Blair (American, 1912-2003) was an American artist, painter, sculptor, printmaker and te...
Category
American Modern Charles Ragland Bunnell Landscape Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Watercolor
Clinton Hill, Paris, July, 1951 (France), mid-century abstract gouache drawing
By Clinton Hill
Located in New York, NY
Clinton Hill (1922-2003), created quintessential mid-century images.
He lived in SoHo, New York, and was a frequent Gallery visitor.
Born in Idaho and raised on a working ranch, ...
Category
Mid-20th Century American Modern Charles Ragland Bunnell Landscape Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Gouache
Untitled
By Fred Nagler
Located in Dallas, TX
Fred Nagler was born in 1891 in Springfield, Massachusetts, where he first studied wood carving. From 1914 to 1917, he studied at The Art Students League of New York, where his prof...
Category
20th Century American Modern Charles Ragland Bunnell Landscape Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Graphite, Paper, Watercolor
Rare Chaim Gross Watercolor Painting Manhattan Skyscrapers Train NYC WPA Artist
By Chaim Gross
Located in Surfside, FL
This appears to be dated 1927. It came in with a piece dated 1929. A very early, rare work.
Framed 22.5 x 18. Image 14.5 x 9
A great New York city street scene with an El train (elev...
Category
Mid-20th Century American Modern Charles Ragland Bunnell Landscape Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Watercolor
Charles Burchfield Preparatory Sketch, Early 20th Century
By Charles E. Burchfield
Located in New York, NY
Charles Burchfield (1893-1967)
Untitled (Preparatory Drawing for Skyscape), Early 20th Century
Pencil on paper
12 1/4 x 18 3/4 in.
Inscribed: blue / white / blue / RV
Born in Ashtab...
Category
Early 20th Century American Modern Charles Ragland Bunnell Landscape Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Pencil
"Times Square" Mid 20th Century 1937 Modernism Broadway Drawing NYC Cityscape
Located in New York, NY
"Times Square" Mid 20th Century 1937 Modernism Broadway Drawing NYC Cityscape
Philip Goodwin (20th Century) "Times Square," 23 ½ x 17 ¼ inches. Gouache...
Category
1930s American Modern Charles Ragland Bunnell Landscape Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Gouache
Modern Tropical Abstract -- "Spires II"
Located in Soquel, CA
Colorful abstract watercolor of imaginative shapes in a tropical setting with botanical landscape elements by Claire Wolf Krantz (American, b. 1938). Signed "Claire Wolf Krantz" lower right. Titled "Spires" lower center. Dated "11/18/77" and numbered "II" in a series lower left. Peach colored mat and bronze tone metal frame. Image, 14"H x 14"L.
Kranz is an artist and art critic living in Chicago, she uses fictional and real elements in her works. She is known for mixed media works layering photograph...
Category
1970s American Modern Charles Ragland Bunnell Landscape Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Watercolor
Reginald Marsh "Brooklyn Bridge" NYC Modernism WPA Mid-Century Watercolor Modern
By Reginald Marsh
Located in New York, NY
Reginald Marsh "Brooklyn Bridge" NYC Modernism WPA Mid-Century Watercolor Modern
Reginald Marsh (American, 1898-1954) Brooklyn Bridge, 1940, Signed and dated Reginald Marsh May 1940 (lr), Watercolor over traces of pencil on paper , 15 x 22 inches sight.
Reginald Marsh was born in Paris, France in 1898, the child of artist parents. He was born over a small cafe on Paris' Left Bank. He was brought to the United States in 1900 and was drawing before he was three. He studied art at Yale University and the Art Students League, during which time he worked primarily as an illustrator for New York newspapers and magazines. After studying in Paris in 1925 and 1926, he turned seriously to painting. In 1929 he was introduced to the egg-tempera medium, which he used extensively the rest of his life.
Marsh's gusto for painting the bottom crust of society contrasted curiously with his background. His parents, both well-known artists, were steeped in academic traditions. He attended Lawrenceville Academy and Yale; perhaps this elite background made it possible to paint the earthy people he did with a journalist's objectivity.
An admirer of Rubens and Delacroix, he disliked modernist art; indeed, his lifelong preoccupation was with people - enjoying themselves at beaches, at amusement parks, or on crowded city streets. Marsh was a second-generation Ash Can School painter and printmaker, best known as an urban regionalist. He spent his days sketching in small notebooks...
Category
1940s American Modern Charles Ragland Bunnell Landscape Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Watercolor
Shops in a Small Town - Original Watercolor on Paper
Located in Soquel, CA
Shops in a Small Town - Original Watercolor on Paper
Beautiful watercolor painting a small town main street by Ken L. Stephens (American, 20th Century). There are several colorful b...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Charles Ragland Bunnell Landscape Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink, Watercolor, Laid Paper
Alfred Bendiner, Avalon (New Jersey)
By Alfred Bendiner
Located in New York, NY
Apparently Bendiner never went a day without drawing. He was amazing! From Bendiner's Philadelphia the New Jersey beaches were an easy drive. Avalon is st...
Category
Mid-20th Century American Modern Charles Ragland Bunnell Landscape Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Watercolor
Alfred Bendiner, Santa Fe Cowhands (New Mexico)
By Alfred Bendiner
Located in New York, NY
Apparently Bendiner never went a day without drawing. He was amazing!
In this scene of a young 'cowgirl' is working a lasso while an 'old cowhand' looks on -- clutching a cigaret of...
Category
1950s American Modern Charles Ragland Bunnell Landscape Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Watercolor
Previously Available Items
Mine in the Mountains, Colorado, Modernist Landscape Line Drawing, Black & White
By Charles Ragland Bunnell
Located in Denver, CO
Mine in the Mountains of Colorado, vintage circa 1930s modernist, semi abstract landscape by Charles Bunnell (1897-1968). Black and White line drawing...
Category
1930s American Modern Charles Ragland Bunnell Landscape Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Graphite
Untitled (Study of a Mountain Town, Colorado)
By Charles Ragland Bunnell
Located in Denver, CO
Original pen and ink drawing by 20th century Broadmoor Academy Colorado artist, Charles Bunnell (1897-1968) with houses and mountains, likely a Colorado mining...
Category
1930s American Modern Charles Ragland Bunnell Landscape Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Ink
H 11.5 in W 9.5 in D 0.75 in
Charles Ragland Bunnell landscape drawings and watercolors for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a wide variety of authentic Charles Ragland Bunnell landscape drawings and watercolors available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Charles Ragland Bunnell in paper, archival paper, graphite and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 20th century and is mostly associated with the modern style. Not every interior allows for large Charles Ragland Bunnell landscape drawings and watercolors, so small editions measuring 15 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Louis Wolchonok, Alfred Bendiner, and William Grauer. Charles Ragland Bunnell landscape drawings and watercolors prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $1,250 and tops out at $8,250, while the average work can sell for $2,750.