Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 15

Charles Ragland Bunnell
WPA 1940s Framed Figurative Village Landscape with Figures, Houses & Mountains

1940

About the Item

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 piece captures a dramatic outdoor village scene, reflecting Bunnell’s unique ability to intertwine landscape with the broader human experience. The painting is presented in a custom black frame with archival materials to preserve its integrity, with outer dimensions of 26 x 35 ½ x ⅝ inches, and an image size of 15 ¼ x 24 ⅝ inches. Provenance: Private Collection, Colorado About the Artist: Charles Ragland Bunnell, often referred to as “Charlie,” was an American artist whose work spanned multiple styles throughout his career. Known for his versatility, Bunnell believed in constantly evolving his artistic approach, famously stating, “I’ve got to paint a thousand different ways.” His career saw him explore both representational and abstract forms, making him one of the few Colorado artists to incorporate modern trends from New York and Europe after World War II. Although Bunnell did not receive widespread critical acclaim during his lifetime, his work garnered significant recognition, especially in the late 1940s when his painting Why? was chosen by curator Katherine Kuh for an important exhibition of abstract and surrealist art at the Art Institute of Chicago. His art was featured in traveling shows to ten other American museums, marking a high point in his career. Born in Kansas City, Bunnell moved to Colorado Springs in 1917, where he would spend the majority of his life. After serving in World War I, Bunnell pursued commercial art and later studied at the Broadmoor Art Academy. His studies with renowned artists like Birger Sandzén and Ernest Lawson influenced his distinctive landscape work. In the 1930s, he began painting Colorado’s mining towns and valleys, contrasting the grandeur of mountain scenery with stark industrial subjects. Bunnell’s involvement with New Deal art projects, including the Treasury Relief Art Project and Federal Art Project, shaped much of his work during the Great Depression. His early engagement with these programs, especially his murals for Colorado Springs schools, reflects his commitment to the American Scene style. As the years progressed, Bunnell’s work evolved into more abstract forms, influenced by his personal experiences and the tumultuous events of the time, including the loss of his son and the impact of World War II. His later abstract works, such as the Black and Blue series, were deeply spiritual, drawing on diverse philosophies and offering a window into the artist’s evolving emotional and intellectual journey. A dedicated teacher, Bunnell continued to mentor younger artists throughout his life, sharing his knowledge and encouraging experimentation. His legacy includes solo exhibitions at prestigious institutions like the Kansas City Art Institute, New Mexico Museum of Art, and the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center. Bunnell’s work can be found in major collections across the United States, including the Denver Art Museum, Art Institute of Chicago, and Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, among others.
  • Creator:
    Charles Ragland Bunnell (1897-1968, American)
  • Creation Year:
    1940
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 26 in (66.04 cm)Width: 35.5 in (90.17 cm)Depth: 0.5 in (1.27 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Framing:
    Frame Included
    Framing Options Available
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    Denver, CO
  • Reference Number:
    Seller: 258591stDibs: LU27310432072

More From This Seller

View All
Estes Park Colorado American Modernist Watercolor Landscape Painting, WPA 1930s
By James Russell Sherman
Located in Denver, CO
Vintage 1930s watercolor and ink painting of Estes Park, Colorado, by American artist James Russell Sherman (1906-1989). This captivating work features a detailed view of storefronts...
Category

1930s American Modern Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor

1924 Colored Pencil Drawing by George E Burr, Arizona Desert Storm Landscape
By George Elbert Burr
Located in Denver, CO
This vintage, original colored pencil drawing titled Untitled (Storm over Desert Landscape, Arizona) was created in 1924 by celebrated American artist George ...
Category

Early 20th Century American Impressionist Landscape Drawings and Waterco...

Materials

Paper, Color Pencil

1930s WPA Era Watercolor Painting of Horses in a Southwest Landscape
By Lloyd Moylan
Located in Denver, CO
Immerse yourself in the beauty of the American Southwest with this stunning vintage painting by renowned artist Lloyd Moylan (1893–1963). This masterful watercolor and gouache on pap...
Category

1930s American Modern Animal Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor, Gouache

Hopi Village on First Mesa, Arizona: Red, Blue, Orange Mixed Media Landscape Art
Located in Denver, CO
This striking mixed-media artwork, titled Walpi #9 (Hopi Village on First Mesa, Arizona), is a masterful combination of watercolor, ink, and charcoal on paper by Bert Van Bork...
Category

1990s American Modern Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Charcoal, Ink, Watercolor

Second Mesa Hopi Pueblo Arizona Multicolored Southwest Mixed Media Landscape Art
Located in Denver, CO
"Second Mesa (Hopi Pueblo, Arizona)" is a stunning mixed media artwork by Bert Van Bork (1928-2014), created using watercolor, ink, and charcoal on paper...
Category

1980s American Modern Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Charcoal, Archival Ink, Watercolor

1930s American Modernist Colorado Winter Landscape Watercolor, Trees, Mountains
Located in Denver, CO
This 1938 watercolor painting by American Modernist artist Turner B. Messick depicts a serene winter landscape, likely set in Colorado. The scene features a bare tree in the foregrou...
Category

1930s American Modern Landscape Paintings

Materials

Watercolor

You May Also Like

Plowman, Brecksville, Ohio, Early 20th Century Farm Landscape, Cleveland School
By Frank Wilcox
Located in Beachwood, OH
Frank Nelson Wilcox (American, 1887–1964) Plowman, Brecksville, Ohio, c. 1922 Watercolor on paper Signed lower right 22.5 x 27.75 inches 27.75 x 34.5 inches, framed Frank Nelson Wilcox (October 3, 1887 – April 17, 1964) was a modernist American artist and a master of watercolor. Wilcox is described as the "Dean of Cleveland School painters," though some sources give this appellation to Henry Keller or Frederick Gottwald. Wilcox was born on October 3, 1887 to Frank Nelson Wilcox, Sr. and Jessie Fremont Snow Wilcox at 61 Linwood Street in Cleveland, Ohio. His father, a prominent lawyer, died at home in 1904 shortly before Wilcox' 17th birthday. His brother, lawyer and publisher Owen N. Wilcox, was president of the Gates Legal Publishing Company or The Gates Press. His sister Ruth Wilcox was a respected librarian. In 1906 Wilcox enrolled from the Cleveland School of Art under the tutelage of Henry Keller, Louis Rorimer, and Frederick Gottwald. He also attended Keller's Berlin Heights summer school from 1909. After graduating in 1910, Wilcox traveled and studied in Europe, sometimes dropping by Académie Colarossi in the evening to sketch the model or the other students at their easels, where he was influenced by French impressionism. Wilcox was influenced by Keller's innovative watercolor techniques, and from 1910 to 1916 they experimented together with impressionism and post-impressionism. Wilcox soon developed his own signature style in the American Scene or Regionalist tradition of the early 20th century. He joined the Cleveland School of Art faculty in 1913. Among his students were Lawrence Edwin Blazey, Carl Gaertner, Paul Travis, and Charles E. Burchfield. Around this time Wilcox became associated with Cowan Pottery. In 1916 Wilcox married fellow artist Florence Bard, and they spent most of their honeymoon painting in Berlin Heights with Keller. They had one daughter, Mary. In 1918 he joined the Cleveland Society of Artists, a conservative counter to the Bohemian Kokoon Arts Club, and would later serve as its president. He also began teaching night school at the John Huntington Polytechnic Institute at this time, and taught briefly at Baldwin-Wallace College. Wilcox wrote and illustrated Ohio Indian Trails in 1933, which was favorably reviewed by the New York Times in 1934. This book was edited and reprinted in 1970 by William A. McGill. McGill also edited and reprinted Wilcox' Canals of the Old Northwest in 1969. Wilcox also wrote, illustrated, and published Weather Wisdom in 1949, a limited edition (50 copies) of twenty-four serigraphs (silk screen prints) accompanied by commentary "based upon familiar weather observations commonly made by people living in the country." Wilcox displayed over 250 works at Cleveland's annual May Show. He received numerous awards, including the Penton Medal for The Omnibus, Paris (1920), Fish Tug on Lake Erie (1921), Blacksmith Shop (1922), and The Gravel Pit (1922). Other paintings include The Trailing Fog (1929), Under the Big Top (1930), and Ohio Landscape...
Category

1920s American Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor

Handsome Couple in Sailboat - Collier's Magazine Illustration
By Earl Oliver Hurst
Located in Miami, FL
Collier's Magazine Illustration From the Estate of Charles Martignette. Work is framed in a period wood frame Watercolor on board
Category

1940s American Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor, Board

Home in the Village, Mt. St. Michel, France, Early 20th Century Cleveland School
By Frank Wilcox
Located in Beachwood, OH
Frank Nelson Wilcox (American, 1887–1964) Home in the Village, Mt. St. Michel, France, c. 1926 Watercolor on board Signed lower right 21.75 x 28 inches 30.5 x 36.5 inches, framed Frank Nelson Wilcox (October 3, 1887 – April 17, 1964) was a modernist American artist and a master of watercolor. Wilcox is described as the "Dean of Cleveland School painters," though some sources give this appellation to Henry Keller or Frederick Gottwald. Wilcox was born on October 3, 1887 to Frank Nelson Wilcox, Sr. and Jessie Fremont Snow Wilcox at 61 Linwood Street in Cleveland, Ohio. His father, a prominent lawyer, died at home in 1904 shortly before Wilcox' 17th birthday. His brother, lawyer and publisher Owen N. Wilcox, was president of the Gates Legal Publishing Company or The Gates Press. His sister Ruth Wilcox was a respected librarian. In 1906 Wilcox enrolled from the Cleveland School of Art under the tutelage of Henry Keller, Louis Rorimer, and Frederick Gottwald. He also attended Keller's Berlin Heights summer school from 1909. After graduating in 1910, Wilcox traveled and studied in Europe, sometimes dropping by Académie Colarossi in the evening to sketch the model or the other students at their easels, where he was influenced by French impressionism. Wilcox was influenced by Keller's innovative watercolor techniques, and from 1910 to 1916 they experimented together with impressionism and post-impressionism. Wilcox soon developed his own signature style in the American Scene or Regionalist tradition of the early 20th century. He joined the Cleveland School of Art faculty in 1913. Among his students were Lawrence Edwin Blazey, Carl Gaertner, Paul Travis, and Charles E. Burchfield. Around this time Wilcox became associated with Cowan Pottery. In 1916 Wilcox married fellow artist Florence Bard, and they spent most of their honeymoon painting in Berlin Heights with Keller. They had one daughter, Mary. In 1918 he joined the Cleveland Society of Artists, a conservative counter to the Bohemian Kokoon Arts Club, and would later serve as its president. He also began teaching night school at the John Huntington Polytechnic Institute at this time, and taught briefly at Baldwin-Wallace College. Wilcox wrote and illustrated Ohio Indian Trails in 1933, which was favorably reviewed by the New York Times in 1934. This book was edited and reprinted in 1970 by William A. McGill. McGill also edited and reprinted Wilcox' Canals of the Old Northwest in 1969. Wilcox also wrote, illustrated, and published Weather Wisdom in 1949, a limited edition (50 copies) of twenty-four serigraphs (silk screen prints) accompanied by commentary "based upon familiar weather observations commonly made by people living in the country." Wilcox displayed over 250 works at Cleveland's annual May Show. He received numerous awards, including the Penton Medal for The Omnibus, Paris (1920), Fish Tug on Lake Erie (1921), Blacksmith Shop (1922), and The Gravel Pit (1922). Other paintings include The Trailing Fog (1929), Under the Big Top (1930), and Ohio Landscape...
Category

1920s American Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor

Volcano and Arch, Taormina, Sicily, Italy, Mid Century Cleveland School Artist
By Clarence Holbrook Carter
Located in Beachwood, OH
Clarence Holbrook Carter (American, 1904-2000) Volcano and Arch, Taormina, 1961 Watercolor on scintilla paper Signed and dated upper right 11 x 11 inches "My last year in art schoo...
Category

1960s American Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor

Cormorant Rock, Gaspé, Canada, Mid 20th Century, Cleveland School Artist
By Frank Wilcox
Located in Beachwood, OH
Frank Nelson Wilcox (American, 1887-1964) Cormorant Rock, Gaspé, Canada Watercolor on Whatman board Signed lower right 22 x 30 inches 29 x 37.5 inches Frank Nelson Wilcox (October 3, 1887 – April 17, 1964) was a modernist American artist and a master of watercolor. Wilcox is described as the "Dean of Cleveland School painters," though some sources give this appellation to Henry Keller or Frederick Gottwald. Wilcox was born on October 3, 1887 to Frank Nelson Wilcox, Sr. and Jessie Fremont Snow Wilcox at 61 Linwood Street in Cleveland, Ohio. His father, a prominent lawyer, died at home in 1904 shortly before Wilcox' 17th birthday. His brother, lawyer and publisher Owen N. Wilcox, was president of the Gates Legal Publishing Company or The Gates Press. His sister Ruth Wilcox was a respected librarian. In 1906 Wilcox enrolled from the Cleveland School of Art under the tutelage of Henry Keller, Louis Rorimer...
Category

Mid-20th Century American Modern Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor

Beachside Village, Maine, 20th century landscape watercolor, Cleveland School
By George Adomeit
Located in Beachwood, OH
George Gustav Adomeit (American, 1879-1967) Beachside Village, Maine Watercolor on paper Signed lower right 10 x 14 inches 17.75 x 21.75 inches, framed A major painter of American ...
Category

Mid-20th Century American Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor

Recently Viewed

View All