WILLIAM GEDNEY BUNCE (American, 1840-1916). Sunset. Oil and (possibly) oil pastel on board. 12-1/4 x 24-1/2 inches (31.1...

Description

WILLIAM GEDNEY BUNCE (American, 1840-1916)
Sunset
Oil and (possibly) oil pastel on board
12-1/4 x 24-1/2 inches (31.1 x 62.2 cm)

THE JEAN AND GRAHAM DEVOE WILLIFORD CHARITABLE TRUST

EXHIBITED:
Tyler Museum of Art, Tyler, Texas, "Studious Slangy and Bohemian: The Tile Club--Artists of America's Aesthetic Movement from the Graham Williford Collection," December 14, 2010-February 20, 2011, no. 8.

This masterful painting by marine and landscape specialist William Gedney Bunce was a work far ahead of its time. In its economy of means and gestural boldness this evocation of a sunset over dark water can almost be mistaken for a work of Abstract Expressionism. Born in Hartford, Connecticut, Bunce began his art training very early; he took drawing lessons in 1856 from Julius Busch. Then after serving for two years under General Fremont during the Civil War,he attended the Cooper Union in New York and studied under William Hart. He then went to Italy where he found his subject--Venice, its skies, and its water--and also became fast friends with sculptor Augustus St. Gaudens whose work Graham Williford avidly collected. Although he was a National Academician, and a member of many important artist organizations, Bunce was not a traditionalist. While he did produce more standard scenes of the Venice skyline and colorful fishing boats, he paid much more attention to atmosphere as his primary subject, experimenting in the manner of Turner with daring palettes and moods, and Whistler by evoking through suggestion rather than transcription.


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