Charles Ragland Bunnell Modernist Abstract Oil Painting, 1955

Item Details

Charles Ragland Bunnell (American, 1897 – 1968)
Untitled (abstract composition), 1955
Oil on canvas paper
Signed to lower right

’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 other paper, Bunnell drew on walls and the margins of textbooks for which he was often fined.

Around 1915, Bunnell moved with his family to Colorado Springs, Colorado. Bunnell served in World War I, after which he used his GI Training to study at the Broadmoor Art Academy (later renamed the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center) during 1922 and 1923. He studied with Ernest Lawson in 1927-1928 and, in the winter of 1928-1929, he served as Lawson’s assistant. In the 1930’s Bunnell spent a year and a half studying under Boardman Robinson.

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. He taught private classes in his studio, located at the foot of Pike’s Peak, following its opening in 1949.

Bunnell’s work has been exhibited in several one-man shows including those held at the Kansas City Art Institute; the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center; the University of Kentucky; the Santa Fe Museum; the University of Illinois; the Taos Gallery, NM; the Brodley Gallery, NY; the Antlers Gallery, CO; the Carl Barnett Galleries, TX; the Haigh Gallery, CO; and the Dord Fitz Art Gallery, TX. Bunnell’s work has also been included in exhibitions at the Art Institute of Chicago; the Carnegie Institute; the Colorado State Fair; the Kansas City Art Institute; and in ‘Artists West of the Mississippi’.

Bunnell spent many years painting in a broken-color impressionist style until the early 1940’s when his work turned more abstract. Charles Bunnell continued to live in Colorado Springs until his death in 1967.’

- David Cook Galleries

Condition

- discolorations and abrasions throughout; light wear to edges and corners; may show other signs of minor wear.

Dimensions

Item #

ITMGM91570