RUPERT BUNNY (1864-1947) Figure Study ink on paper signed with monogram lower right: RCWB 32.5 x 21cm PROVENANCE Australian Art Auctions, Sydney, 26 September 1977, Lot 209 (label verso) John Barnes, Melbourne
Sundowners watercolour signed lower left 23.5cm x 34.5cm Provenance: Leonard Joel, Australian British, New Zealand & European Historical Paintings etc., Melbourne, 02/11/1988, Lot No. 1430 Literature: Rupert Bunny - Himself by Colette Reddin, Illustrated in colour Page 24
RUPERT BUNNY (1864-1947) Brignogan c.1899 oil on canvas 50 x 73.5cm PROVENANCE: Gift from the Artist The Collection of the Mackinnon Family Thence by descent LITERATURE: Thomas, D., The Life and Art of Rupert Bunny, A Catalogue Raisonné in Two Volumes, Thames & Hudson, Melbourne, 2017, cat. O120, vol. II, p. 26 OTHER NOTES: Rupert Bunny enjoyed the patronage of the Mackinnon family following the marriage of his sister Hilda Eleanor Mary (1867-1942) to Donald Mackinnon (1859-1932) in 1891.
RUPERT BUNNY (1864 - 1947) THE SWING, c.1913 oil on canvas 80.5 x 54.0 cm signed lower right: Rupert C W Bunny PROVENANCE Private collection, Chile Philip Bacon Galleries, Brisbane D. Johnston, Perth Deutscher~Menzies, Melbourne, 22 November 1998, lot 302 Private collection, Melbourne EXHIBITED Rupert Bunny: Artist in Paris, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 21 November 2009 – 21 February 2010; and touring to The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, Melbourne, 26 March – 4 July 2010, and Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, 23 July – 4 October 2010, cat. 37 (label attached verso) LITERATURE ,$4 million art auction,, Australian Jewish News, Melbourne, 13 November 1998, p. 6 (illus.) Maslen, G., ,Art-sale upswing marks challenge by newcomer,, The Age, 23 November 1998, p. 8 (illus.) Edwards, D., Rupert Bunny: Artist in Paris, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 2009, pp. 82, 98 (illus.), 205 Thomas, D., The Life and Art of Rupert Bunny, A Catalogue Raisonné in Two Volumes, Thames & Hudson, Melbourne, 2017, cat. O375, vol. I, pp. 12 (illus.), 52, vol. II, p. 51 ESSAY Melbourne-born Rupert Bunny lived much of his adult life in France. First arriving in Paris in the 1880s, he established a studio on rue Notre Dame des Champs and began exhibiting at the Old Salon in 1888, having his first critical success there two years later when Tritons, c.1890 (Art Gallery of New South Wales) received an honourable mention. Bunny worked hard, but being sociable and outgoing, he also enjoyed a rich social life in the City of Light, frequenting popular meeting places such as the Café de Dôme, attending concerts and the theatre, and counting Sarah Bernhardt (who acquired his work) among his many friends.1 While Bunny maintained strong family connections with Australia and sent paintings home for exhibition, he did not visit again until 1911. He received a warm welcome on this occasion however, being described by the Sydney Morning Herald as ‘perhaps the most eminent painter that Australia has yet produced’2 and mounted successful exhibitions in Melbourne and Sydney from which the National Gallery of Victoria, Art Gallery of New South Wales and Art Gallery of South Australia all acquired works for their collections. During this extended visit, Bunny also undertook numerous portrait commissions of notable figures who recognised his skill and status within the contemporary artistic fraternity. Writing at the time, William Moore, declared that ‘Bunny is an artist with an international reputation, his record being unapproached by any other Australian painter…Two of his best-known pictures were purchased by the French Government for the [Musée du] Luxembourg, which is the highest honour that French Art can bestow on a living artist.’3 The Swing was painted around 1913 and like so many of Bunny’s works, the female figure in the picture was modelled on his wife, Jeanne-Héloise Morel. Also a practising artist, Morel worked in oil, as well as making monotypes and embroideries, and exhibited at the Société des Artistes Français and the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts. The pair met in 1892 and almost instantly she became Bunny’s favourite model, her ‘ravishing beauty… violet eyes, raven hair, slightly retroussé nose’4 a distinctive and memorable feature of many paintings. Identified as the sitter in portraits such as The Straw Hat, c.1895 (Art Gallery of New South Wales), and Portrait of the Artist’s Wife, c.1896 (National Gallery of Victoria), she also represented a more symbolic and timeless image of femininity and womanhood in paintings including A Summer Morning, c.1908 (Art Gallery of New South Wales), and Who comes?, c.1908 (National Gallery of Australia). The couple married in 1902 and as Bunny scholar, David Thomas, has observed, his depictions of Morel are ‘essays on the ineffable in feminine beauty, they convey love, admiration and an elegance that sets them apart.’5 Bunny appreciated beauty in all its forms and many of his best-known paintings depict graceful women, either alone or in intimate groups, attired in the elaborate and beautiful fashions of the day. The Swing is no exception and the woman, who is shown seated on an outdoor swing, dreamily looking off into the distance, wears a long sheath-style dress and wrap in shades of apricot with cream and green highlights. What distinguishes this painting from many of Bunny’s images is its focus on a lush garden setting – his attention here is as much on the visual beauty of the natural environment as it is on the stylish elegance of his female subject. A variegated green grassy foreground leads to a view of distant water beyond the figure who is surrounded by flowering bushes and willow branches which frame the upper left corner of the scene. While the subject of a girl on a swing is a familiar theme from historical French art – evoking similar images by artists such as Fragonard, Boucher and Renoir, among others – Bunny’s handling of paint in this work clearly shows the influence of Impressionism. Delicate brushstrokes of colour are laid down on the canvas side by side, carefully building up rich chromatic depth, and there is an emphasis on the representation of the changing qualities of light and shadow which recalls the singular painterly approach of Claude Monet. As David Thomas has written, The Swing is ‘one of the finest examples of Bunny’s impressionistic figure subjects, his interest now focussed on sparkling light and ravishing colour, combined with a technique that is equally vivacious in its handling and breadth. Brushstrokes seem to dance across the canvas with colours of a higher key.’6 1. For more information see ‘Biographical notes’ in Edwards, D., Rupert Bunny, artist in Paris, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 2009, pp. 188 – 196 2. Sydney Morning Herald, 19 September 1911, cited in Thomas, D., The Life and Art of Rupert Bunny: A Catalogue Raisonné, vol. 1, Thames & Hudson, Melbourne, 2017, p. 145 3. William Moore, cited in Thomas, ibid., p. 148 4. Thomas, ibid., p. 79 5. ibid. 6. ibid., p. 152 KIRSTY GRANT
RUPERT BUNNY (1864 - 1947) THE TELEGRAM, c.1908 oil on canvas 81.0 x 54.0 cm signed lower right: Rupert C W Bunny. bears inscription on label verso: no. 155 / The Telegram original Paris frame PROVENANCE Mr and Mrs John Rowell, Melbourne McClelland Collection, McClelland Sculpture Park and Gallery, Langwarrin, gifted by Mrs Jean Rowell and Mrs Ackland in memory of John Rowell, 24 November 1977 (label attached verso) EXHIBITED Société Internationale de Peinture et de Sculpture, Galeries Georges Petit, Paris, 5 – 31 December 1908, cat. 28 (as 'Le Télégramme') 'Days and Nights in August, by Rupert Bunny', The Baillie Gallery, London, 22 April – 12 May 1911, cat. 16 Exhibition of Pictures by Rupert Bunny, Athenaeum Hall, Melbourne, 24 July – 14 August 1911, cat. 22 Exhibition of Pictures by Rupert Bunny, Lawson & Little Galleries, Sydney, 22 September – 1 October 1911 Paintings by Rupert Bunny from Private Collections, McClelland Gallery, Langwarrin, 25 November 1972 – 8 February 1973, cat. 4 All Our Own Work, McClelland Gallery, Langwarrin, December 1977 – January 1978, cat. 14 All Our Own Work, McClelland Gallery, Langwarrin, 8 – 31 July 1979, cat. 17 LITERATURE 'Quiet, Faithful Art. Mr Rupert Bunny's Exhibition', The Sun, Sydney, 22 September 1911, p. 8 Gérard-Austin, A., The Greatest Voyage: Australian Painters in the Paris Salons, 1885 – 1939, doctoral thesis, Université Paris 1 – Panthéon-Sorbonne, France, March 2014, vol. 2, pp. 17, 81, 126 (illus.) Thomas, D., The Life and Art of Rupert Bunny, A Catalogue Raisonné in Two Volumes, Thames & Hudson, Melbourne, 2017, cat. O281, vol. II, p. 42 ESSAY ‘Paris is the one place in the world to study for the man who wants to do really good work. Nowhere else does he get the atmosphere, the sympathy, which is indispensable to the serious student of painting… It is that there only is one in touch with a thousand theories and theorists with all kinds of movements, some profound, some merely eccentric, that make up the history of modern art… Nobody can have any idea… unless they have lived in Paris, and in Paris art circles, of the intense vitality of art there.’1 Rupert Bunny began his art training in the early 1880s, studying alongside Julian Ashton, Bertram Mackennal, Frederick McCubbin and Emanuel Phillips Fox, at the National Gallery School in Melbourne. Like most of his Australian peers however, Bunny’s goal was international recognition and success and travelling to England with his father in 1884, after a period of study there, he arrived in Paris, the centre of the contemporary art world and the place where the most progressive art students of the day congregated to learn, work and play. He studied for several years with Jean-Paul Laurens, a highly regarded French history painter, and in 1890, received an honourable mention for Tritons, c.1890 (Art Gallery of New South Wales) at the Old Salon. This was the first time that an Australian artist had received such acknowledgement, although John Longstaff would follow in 1891 and in 1892, Arthur Streeton’s Golden Summer, Eaglemont, 1889 would be accorded the same honour.2 Critical success continued and his most important accolade came in 1904 when Après le Bain, c.1904, now in the collection of the Musée d’Orsay, Paris, was acquired from the New Salon by the French Government. A complex multi-figure composition, the painting was very well received with one critic noting that, ‘There is, in fact, something in the decorative feeling, richness of colouring, and grace of the fine work that recalls the work of the Venetian school, especially, perhaps, of Tiepolo.’3 Bunny met Jeanne-Héloise Morel in 1892 and John Longstaff recalled that ‘the very night they met… he fell in love with her at first sight. She was a regular Dresden china girl with a deliciously tip-tilted nose.’4 An artist, and possibly an artist’s model, Morel quickly became Bunny’s favourite model and muse, and she appears in many portraits and subject pictures from this time on. As Deborah Edwards writes, ‘Morel fulfils a function oscillating between the real, the metaphoric and the decorative.’5 She is the subject of portraits, such as the charming Portrait of the Artist’s Wife, c.1896 (National Gallery of Victoria) – so titled, even though they did not marry until 1902 – where she is pictured wearing a striking black and white striped dress and with her pet terrier. She also appears in paintings such as An idyll, 1901 (Art Gallery of South Australia) and Endormies, c.1904 (National Gallery of Victoria), imaginary dreamlike scenarios in which beautiful women represent symbolic figures. The Telegram, painted around 1908, clearly demonstrates Bunny’s delight in the decorative, from details of the interior (the brocade of the curtain pulled back to reveal the floral-patterned wallpaper behind, for example) to the figures’ elaborate Edwardian-era clothing. It also demonstrates his interest in the play of light and indeed, his ability to represent it in paint, from the dappled sunlight shining through the window to the muted reflection of the standing figure in the mirror to the left of the scene. But The Telegram also adopts a narrative focus which propels it beyond the artist’s (and viewers’) pleasure in these pictorial details. Two women are depicted in an intimate interior, the standing figure – wearing a feathered hat and with gloves in hand, seemingly ready to go out – watches over as a young woman (modelled on Morel), seated to her right, pens a telegram message. The image prompts inevitable questions – what is the relationship between the two women; what events preceded this moment; is the content of the telegram good news or bad? – and the viewer is instantly engaged in the potential drama of the scene. With its emphasis on beauty, elegance and decoration, The Telegram is typical of what the critic Roger Marx described as the work, ‘of a refined colourist, fond of unusual nuances and subtle harmonies emphasised for its own sake the charm of a gay and lively imagination… Mr Bunny… remains… the tender interpreter of his own vision. Each one of his works retains a tasteful charm never lacking in distinction.’6 1. Rupert Bunny, cited in ‘Art in Paris, Mr Bunny and the Post-Impressionists’, Sydney Morning Hearld, 19 September 1911, p. 9, in Thomas, D., The Life and Art of Rupert Bunny: A Catalogue Raisonné, vol. I, Thames and Hudson, Port Melbourne, 2017, p. 42 2. See Thomas, ibid., p. 53 3. Franz, H., cited in Studio, London, 1904, vol. XXXII, p.14, in Thomas, ibid., p. 123 4. John Longstaff, cited in Thomas, ibid., p. 79 5. Edwards, D., Rupert Bunny, artist in Paris, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 2009, p. 73 6. Marx, R., ‘Exposition Rupert Bunny’, La Chronique des Arts et de la Curiosité, Supplément de la Gazette des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 4 March 1905, pp. 67 – 68, cited in Thomas, ibid., p. 128 KIRSTY GRANT
RUPERT BUNNY 1864-1947 Study for Endormies (Slumbering) (1904) oil on canvas signed ‘Rupert C W Bunny' lower right 46 x 76.5 cm PROVENANCE Rupert Bunny, Paris Private Collection Whitford and Hughes, London John Schaeffer, Sydney 19th and 20th Century Australian and International Paintings, Sculpture and Works on Paper, Deutscher-Menzies, Melbourne, 10 August 1998, lot 83, ‘Asleep', illustrated Joseph Brown Gallery, Melbourne, acquired from the above The Cbus Collection of Australian Art, Melbourne, acquired from the above on 10 September 1998 100 Highlights from the Cbus Collection of Australian Art, Deutscher and Hackett, Melbourne, 27 July 2022, lot 11, illustrated Denis Savill, Sydney, acquired from the above EXHIBITED Figurative Works from the Cbus Collection, Latrobe Regional Gallery, Morwell, 4 August – 2 December 2012 Colour and Movement, Benalla Art Gallery, Benalla, 19 February – 9 June 2016 On long-term loan to Bendigo Gallery, Bendigo LITERATURE David Thomas, The Life and Art of Rupert Bunny: A Catalogue Raisonné, Thames and Hudson, Melbourne, 2017, Vol. 2, cat. no. O216, ‘Asleep', p. 35 Bryony Nainby, Zara Stanhope and Katie Furlonger, The Cubs Collection of Australian Art, Cbus in association with Latrobe Regional Gallery, Melbourne, 2009, pp. 18, 33 (illustrated), 214
Rupert Bunny Australian, 1864-1947 Bather study oil on canvas unsigned in silver frame Provenance: Mrs H.K Reid ( Artists Niece) Leonard Joel November 1983 Sotheby's April 1994 Private collection 30 Victoria Street ( Frank MacDonald ) Sydney 1994 Private Collection Sydney Peter Walker Art Dealer Adelaide 2005
Attributed to RUPERT BUNNY (1864-1927) Study for Cliff Near Sanary oil on board 18.5 x 24cm (39.5 x 45cm framed) PROVENANCE: Edgar Beale, Sydney Thence by descent OTHER NOTES: For a related composition, see Thomas, op cit, illus 31, Cliff near Sanary, collection Geelong Art Gallery
BUNNY, Rupert C W (1864-1947) French Landscape with Blossom Tree and Milestone Unsigned, but with artist's estate authentication label verso (Daryl Lindsay) Oil on Board 23.5x14.5cm PROVENANCE: The artist's estate; (possibly) collection Dr Ewan Murray-Will, Sydney; Collection John D. Chesterman, Sydney.
BUNNY, Rupert C W (1864-1947) Ceres and Persephone, c.1918. Unsigned. Authenticated verso by Daryl Lindsay. Oil on Canvas 53x80cm PROVENANCE: The artist's estate; collection Dr Ewan Murray-Will, Sydney; Collection John D. Chesterman, Sydney.
BUNNY, Rupert C W (1864-1947) 'Port of Toulon [South of France]' c.1925. Signed with artist's monogram lower left. Oil on Canvas 53x64cm PROVENANCE: Hogan's Art Gallery, Melbourne; Mrs F.E.M. Plews, Melbourne, acquired from the above in 1937; Dr K.F. Fairley, Melbourne, by descent from the above; private collection, Melbourne, by descent from the above; Denis Savill Private Collection. EXHIBITIONS: Paintings by Rupert C. W. Bunny, Hogan's Art Gallery, Melbourne, 20th April - 8th May 1937, no.6, 35 gns. Rupert Bunny, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 1st October - 18th November 1946, no.33 (label verso). LITERATURE: Basil Burdett, 'Flower and Landscape by Rupert Bunny', The Herald, Melbourne, 19 April 1937, p.8; Clive Turnbull and Tristan Buesst, 'The Art of Rupert Bunny', Ure Smith, Sydney, Melbourne, 1948, plate 7, pp.29 (illustrated), 73; David Thomas, 'Rupert Bunny 1864-1947', Lansdowne Press, Melbourne, 1970, cat. O379, p.94; David Thomas, 'Rupert Bunny', Art and Australia, Ure Smith, Sydney, March 1972, p.334; Colette Reddin, 'Rupert Bunny Himself: His Final Years in Melbourne', Colette Reddin, Melbourne, 1987, pp.24 (illustrated), 35, 44; David Thomas, 'The Life and Art of Rupert Bunny: A Catalogue Raisonné', Thames and Hudson, Melbourne, 2017, Vol. 2, cat. no. O706, p.75.
RUPERT BUNNY (1864 - 1947) AT THE PUMP, c.1908 oil on canvas 60.0 x 73.0 cm signed lower left: Rupert C. W. Bunny inscribed with title on stretcher verso: At the pump PROVENANCE Anthony Hordern and Sons, Sydney Private collection James O. Fairfax AC, New South Wales, and Bridgestar Pty Ltd, Sydney Important Australian Works of Art from the estate of the late James O. Fairfax AC, Deutscher and Hackett, Sydney, 30 August 2017, lot 17 Private collection, Sydney, acquired from the above EXHIBITED Exposition Rupert C. W. Bunny, Galeries Georges Petit, Paris, 10 – 31 March 1917, cat. 22 (as 'La Pompe') Exhibition of Paintings by Rupert C. W. Bunny, The Fine Art Society Gallery, Melbourne, 15 – 27 November 1922, cat. 36 Exhibition of Oil Paintings by Rupert C. W. Bunny, Anthony Hordern and Sons, Sydney, 2 – 31 May 1923, cat. 36 Rupert Bunny Retrospective, Newcastle City Art Gallery, New South Wales, 31 July – 3 September 1968, cat. 8 (dated as c.1912) LITERATURE Gleeson, J., 'The Art Collectors 3. James O. Fairfax', Art and Australia, Ure Smith, Sydney, vol. 3, no. 3, December 1965, pp. 174, 181 (illus., dated as c.1912) Newcastle Morning Herald, Newcastle, 1 August 1968 Thomas, D., Rupert Bunny 1864 – 1947, Lansdowne Press, Melbourne, 1970, cat. 0155, p. 115 (dated as c.1913) Thomas, D., The Life and Art of Rupert Bunny: A Catalogue Raisonné, Thames and Hudson, Melbourne, 2017, cat. O268, vol. II, p. 41 ESSAY We are grateful to Brenda Martin Thomas, wife of the late David Thomas AM, for kindly allowing us to reproduce David's writing in this catalogue entry. The year 1908 introduces a period of special brilliance in Rupert Bunny’s art embracing such masterpieces as A Summer Morning, c.1908, in the collection of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, and the more personally sized Last Fine Days, Royan, c.1908, in the Newcastle Art Gallery. Paintings of enticing beauty such as At the Beach, c.1908 (private collection); Le Bel Après Midi, Royan, c.1908 (private collection); Shrimp Fishers at Saint-Georges, c.1908 (National Gallery of Victoria, Felton Bequest); and La Chenille Verte, c.1908 (once in the collection of Sir Reginald Marcus Clark), followed close upon each other. Bunny was at the height of his creativity, his beautiful wife Jeanne his muse and his model. The evolution of some of these paintings is recorded in Bunny’s Villa Lili, St Georges sketchbook – figure studies of Jeanne patting a dog, feeding pet rabbits, or plucking a flower, together with compositional sketches for La Chenille Verte (The Green Caterpillar); The Cliff Path; and Oyster Gathering (St Georges).1 Jeanne and her lady companion feature throughout in sunny outdoor and interior scenes, or on a shaded balcony. The vivacity of handling increased in each successive painting to achieve the light-filled freedom characterised by The Swing, c.1913 (private collection). At the Pump, c.1908, together with a number of later paintings, was shown in Bunny’s exhibition at Galeries Georges Petit, Paris, in March 1917. According to the writer for the British-Australasian, the exhibition was ‘one of the biggest successes of the season.’2 Paintings were acquired by the French State for the Luxembourg Museum, and the exhibition was well reviewed by the Parisian critics. Arsène Alexandre wrote in Le Figaro: ‘never has this excellent painter displayed in his works such delicious colour, design, composition, meaning, imagination’.3 Gustave Geffroy, the noted French art critic, wrote the catalogue introduction.4 The appeal of Bunny’s paintings inspired him to comment: ‘These paintings are studies in colour and light and are also true and charming portraits of the actual presence of women whom the painter has observed in their homes and outside’. Commenting on Bunny’s ability to discover the ‘poetry of everyday things found in daily life’, Geffroy praised him for his presentation of images of adorned women ‘as quite natural’. He continued: ‘we are not surprised to see these creatures dressed in such splendour giving themselves up to modest occupations: drawing water, pruning roses, embroidering handkerchiefs or knitting stockings.’ Geffroy lauded Bunny as ‘a realist and a visionary, an observer of truth and a poet of the world of dreams.’5 Bunny is a painter of sunlight, sensuously caressing the flesh and fabric, and filling the canvas with a sparkling atmosphere of warmth and pleasure, an interest reflected in his oft-used title, ‘Sun Bath’. At the Pump celebrates this delight as a transient moment of the everyday captured in paint. As Jeanne watches her companion pump water to fill watering cans for the garden, the prosaic is transformed into the poetic by dancing touches of the brush, full of light and colour. 1. Villa Lili, St Georges Sketchbook II, c.1908, formerly in the collection of Dr Ewan Murray-Will, Sydney (and since broken up) 2. ‘Australian Artists in Paris’, British-Australasian, London, 11 March 1920, p. 12 3. Alexandre, A., ‘Informations – Aux Galeries Georges Petit’, Le Figaro, Paris, 24 March 1917, p. 3 4. A champion of Claude Monet, Geffroy was one of the first to write on Impressionism. Paul Cézanne painted his portrait in 1895. 5. Geffroy, G., ‘Rupert Bunny’, Exposition Rupert C. W. Bunny, Galeries Georges Petit, Paris, 1917 DAVID THOMAS
oil on prepared paper 19 x 20.5cm PROVENANCE Art Lovers Gallery, Artarmon, NSW (label verso, titled as "Oil Sketch for Large Composition") Private Collection, Melbourne LITERATURE David Thomas, The Life and Art of Rupert Bunny A Catalogue Raisonné Vol.2 Thames & Hudson 2017, p. 58
oil on board inscribed illegibly lower right inscribed verso in pencil: Percement du Boul. Raspail / vu de la rue Vavin 63.5 x 53cm PROVENANCE Joseph Brown, Melbourne 1973 (as "Demolition work in France") The Collection of Harry and Masha Flicker, Melbourne
Rupert Bunny (Australia 1864-1947) Bacchanalian scene "The Frolic" oil on board, double sided with reverse figures near archway, provenance Ex Norman Behan collection, Fine Auctions Phillip Caldwell, circa 2010, lot 230 , deceased estate Mt Eliza, listed in volumes of Rupert Bunny by David Thomas, 25 x 34 cm
PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION, ADELAIDE RUPERT BUNNY (1864-1947) Ruined House at Sanary c1930 oil on canvas 53.0 x 63.0 cm; 75.5 x 86.0 cm (framed) signed lower right with artist’s monogram
RUPERT BUNNY (1864-1947) Study for 'The Sonata' c.1910 oil on canvas on board 48.5 x 38cm PROVENANCE: Laurence Course, Melbourne Thence by descent Private collection, Melbourne LITERATURE: Thomas, D., The Life and Art of Rupert Bunny: A Catalogue Raisonne, vol.2, Thames & Hudson, Australia, 2017, p.45, cat. no. O312 OTHER NOTES: RELATED WORK: The Sonata, c.1909-10, oil on canvas, 212 x 160 cm, The Collection of the Art Gallery of Ballarat, Victoria, illus. p. 57 in Thomas, D., Rupert Bunny 1864-1947, Lansdowne Press, Melbourne, 1970, p. 55, cat. no. O114
RUPERT BUNNY (1864 - 1947) NIOBE, c.1918 oil on cardboard 50.5 x 71.5 cm 76.5 x 98.0 cm (frame) PROVENANCE Private collection, Melbourne Mrs Elizabeth Fink, Melbourne Leonard Joel, Melbourne, 28 April 1963 (as ‘Legend’) Melbourne Fine Art, Melbourne, by 1996 Private collection, Melbourne Collection of Lex Aitken and Alfredo (Bouret) Gonzalez, Sydney Estate of Alfredo (Bouret) Gonzalez, Canada LITERATURE Thomas, D., The Life and Art of Rupert Bunny: A Catalogue Raisonné, Thames & Hudson, Melbourne, 2017, Vol. 2, cat. O500, pp. 61, 155 CATALOGUE TEXT Niobe is a powerfully dramatic, unfinished painting ... (that) comes from the best period of his late mythological decorations. The subject of the picture is taken from Greek mythology, showing the killing of Niobe's sons and daughters by Artemis and Apollo. Niobe was the daughter of Tantalus, the mother of seven sons and seven daughters. She boasted of her superiority to the goddess Leto, who had only two children, Artemis and Apollo, fathered by Zeus, King of the Gods. Artemis and Apollo revenged their mother by slaying with their arrows all of Niobe's children. (EXTRACT FROM A LETTER WRITTEN BY DAVID THOMAS AUTHENTICATING AND DESCRIBING THE PAINTING) This work is located in our Melbourne Gallery
RUPERT BUNNY (1864 - 1947) TWO PALM TREES (MELBOURNE BOTANIC GARDENS), c.1932-33 oil on card 28.0 x 24.0 cm 50.5 x 47.0 cm (frame) PROVENANCE Mrs J.S. Reid, Victoria Thence by descent Private collection Philip Bacon Galleries, Brisbane (label attached verso) Collection of Lex Aitken and Alfredo (Bouret) Gonzalez, Sydney Estate of Alfredo (Bouret) Gonzalez, Canada EXHIBITED Paintings by Rupert Bunny from Private Collections, McClelland Gallery, Victoria, 25 November 1972 – 8 February 1973, cat. 43 Rupert C.W. Bunny 1864 – 1947, Philip Bacon Galleries, Brisbane, 8 – 30 September 2000, cat. 83 Rupert Bunny: Artist in Paris, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 21 November 2009 – 21 February 2010, and touring to National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 26 March – 4 July 2010 and Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, 23 July – 4 October 2010 (as ‘(Sketch. Two Palm Trees, Botanic Gardens, Melbourne) c.1932-33) LITERATURE Thomas, D., Rupert Bunny, Lansdowne Press Pty Ltd, Melbourne, 1970, cat. S222 Edwards, D., Rupert Bunny: Artist in Paris, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 2009, pp. 183 (illus.), 208 (illus.) Thomas, D., The Life and Art of Rupert Bunny: A Catalogue Raisonné, Thames & Hudson, Melbourne, 2017, Vol. 2, cat. O1049 (as ‘Two Palm Trees, c.1932-33), pp. 98, 182, 186, 187 This work is located in our Melbourne Gallery
BUNNY, Rupert C W (1864-1947) Study for Waterfront, Bandol [South of France], c.1929. Unsigned, but authenticated by Sir Ernest Daryl Lindsay, Director of the National Gallery of Victoria 1942-1955, and trustee for the estate of Rupert Bunny (label verso) Oil on Board 18.5x22.5cm PROVENANCE: Likely I A Sheen (inscription verso); private collection, Sydney. OTHER NOTES: Related work: 'Waterfront, Bandol,' c.1929, currently held by the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Accession No. 7720.
RUPERT BUNNY 1864-1947 La Toison d'Or (circa 1917) The Golden Fleece oil on canvas signed 'RCWB' lower left 52.5 x 80 cm PROVENANCE Rupert Bunny, Paris Private Collection Private Collection, Melbourne Private Collection, Melbourne, acquired from the above Important Australian Art, Sotheby's Australia, Sydney, 26 November 2007, lot 36, illustrated Private Collection, Sydney, acquired from the above EXHIBITED Exposition de l'American Art Association, Galerie Brunner, Paris, March 1918, 'La Conquête de la Tosion d'Or' Salon d'Automne, Paris, 15 November 1919, no. 274, 'La Tosion d'Or' Rupert Bunny, Galeries Georges Petit, Paris, 2-15 May 1922, no. 36 Exhibition of Paintings by Rupert C.W. Bunny, Hogan's Art Gallery, Melbourne, 23 September - 10 October 1936, no. 32, 'The Golden Fleece' Rupert Bunny: Artist in Paris, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 21 November 2009 - 21 February 2010; The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia at Federation Square, Melbourne, 26 March - 4 July 2010; Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, 23 July - 4 October 2010, illustrated LITERATURE Mercure de France, Paris, 16 March 1918, pp. 321-322 David Thomas, Rupert Bunny, Lansdowne Press, Melbourne, 1970, cat. no. O191 Deborah Edwards with Denise Mimmocchi, David Thomas and Anne Gérard, Rupert Bunny: Artist in Paris, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 2009, pp. 115 (illustrated), 125, 205 (illustrated) Anne Gérard-Austin, The Greatest Voyage: Australian Painters in the Paris Salons, 1885-1939, a thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Cotutelle Doctor of Philosophy, Department of Art History and Theory, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Sydney, Ecole Doctorale 441 Historie de l'art, Université Paris 1 - Panthéon-Sorbonne, March 2014, Vol. 2, pp. 19, 85, 132 (illustrated) David Thomas, The Life and Art of Rupert Bunny: A Catalogue Raisonné, Thames and Hudson, Melbourne, 2017, Vol. 2, cat. no. O482, pp. 59, 198
RUPERT BUNNY (1864-1947) Percement du Boulevard Raspail, vu de la rue Vavin oil on board inscribed illegibly lower right inscribed verso in pencil: Percement du Boul. Raspail / vu de la rue Vavin 63.5 x 53cm PROVENANCE The Collection of Harry and Masha Flicker, Melbourne
"Untitled - Very Likely Portrait of Dame Nellie Melba" Oil on canvas, 57.5 x 47.5cm Provenance: Conan Belleville Auction, Lyon, France, 16/12/2021 Lot 45
RUPERT BUNNY (1864-1947) Lakescene oil on board certified by Daryl Lindsay, then Director, National Gallery of Victoria and Co-Trustee of The Rupert Bunny Estate (label verso) 19 x 21.5cm PROVENANCE: Macquarie Galleries, Sydney (label verso) Private collection, Queensland
RUPERT BUNNY (1864-1947) Lady with a Fan c.1898 monotype monogrammed upper left: RWB 33.5 x 23.5cm PROVENANCE: The Collection of Mrs. F. E. M. Plews, Melbourne Thence by descent Private collection, Melbourne LITERATURE: Thomas, D., The Life and Art of Rupert Bunny, A Catalogue Raisonne: Vol. 2, Thames & Hudson, London 2017, p. 111, cat. no. M41
RUPERT BUNNY 1864-1947 The Lock Keeper's House, Normandy (circa 1902) oil on canvas on board signed 'RCWB' lower right 54.2 x 72.6 cm PROVENANCE Rupert Bunny, France Private Collection Joseph Brown Gallery, Melbourne Private Collection, Melbourne, acquired from the above in 1973 Important Australian Art, Smith & Singer (trading as Sotheby's Australia), Sydney, 31 August 2016, lot 28, illustrated Private Collection, Melbourne, acquired from the above EXHIBITED Spring Exhibition 1973: Recent Acquisitions, Joseph Brown Gallery, Melbourne, 24 October - 7 November 1973, no. 23, illustrated LITERATURE David Thomas, The Life and Art of Rupert Bunny: A Catalogue Raisonné, Thames and Hudson, Melbourne, 2017, Vol. 2, cat. no. O167, p. 30
Rupert Bunny (1864-1947) Étude, c.1904 also known as Lady Playing the Piano signed lower left: 'R.C.W. Bunny' oil on canvas 50.0 x 79.5cm (19 11/16 x 31 5/16in).
Australian Art Catalogues and Book including 1) Rupert Bunny's Landscapes of the South of France by David Thomas, Bendigo Art Gallery 1991, softcover 2) The Art of Rupert Bunny by Mary Eagle, Australian National Gallery 1991, hardcover with dust jacket; very good condition with crease to dust jacket 3) 11 Catalogues from the Niagara Galleries Victoria: Steven Harvey2001, Ken Whisson 2016, 2 copies of Blue Chip XIX 2017, Blue Chip XV 2013, Blue Chip XVI 2014, Ken Whisson 2010, Jennifer Joseph 2010, Ian Fairweather and Emily Kame Kngwarreye 1995, Harry Rosengrave 1986 and Carl Plate 1987; good condition, some wear and tanning to early copies
RUPERT BUNNY (1864-1947) Portrait of the Artist's Wife c1910 oil on canvas 41.5 x 33.5 cm signed lower right: Rupert C W Bunny P. Foinet Fils & Lefebvre, Paris, stamp verso
Rupert Bunny, 1864–1947 Ballszene Öl auf Holz unten rechts bezeichnet und signiert À Monsieur Ch... (unleserlich) souvenir de Rupert Bunny. Paris 35 x 26,4 cm
BUNNY, Rupert C W (1864-1947) 'February, Cavalaire [Côte d'Azur, France]' c.1910. Label verso inscribed 'February (Cavalerie) [sic]' This painting is considered to be a self-portrait of the artist with his wife, Madame Jeanne-Heloise, painted in the south of France on a summer afternoon c.1910. Oil on Canvas on Board 49x59cm PROVENANCE: Estate of the artist; Macquarie Galleries, Sydney; Mr F E Trigg, Sydney, acquired c.1950s; thence by descent - private collection, Sydney. EXHIBITIONS: Exhibition of Paintings by Rupert C. W. Bunny, Fine Art Society's Gallery, Melbourne, 15-27 November 1922, cat. 34 (as,'February Sun at Cavalaire'). An Exhibition of Oil Paintings and Drawings by Rupert C. W. Bunny, Anthony Hordern and Sons Ltd Galleries, Sydney, 2-31 May 1923, cat. 34 (as 'February Sun at Cavalaire'). Possibly: Exhibition of Paintings by Rupert Bunny, Macquarie Galleries, Sydney, 3-22 September, cat. 26 (as 'Cavalaire'). An exhibition of French Landscapes and a Group of Early Paintings by Rupert Bunny, Macquarie Galleries, Sydney, 1 - 8 October 1945, cat. 13 (as 'February, Cavalaire'). LITERATURE: 'Sundry Shows', The Bulletin, Sydney, vol. 43, no. 2232, 23 November 1922, p. 34 (as 'February Sun at Cavalaire'). 'Rupert Bunny. Modern French Art', Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney, 2 May 1923, p. 14 (as 'February Sun at Cavalaire'). Turnbull, C., & Buesst, T., The Art of Rupert Bunny, Ure Smith Pty Ltd, Sydney, 1948, p. 71 (as 'February, Cavalaire')
Rupert Charles Wulsten Bunny (Australian 1864-1947) "Pond in Landscape" oil on board, certified on reverse Victoria & Co Trustee of Rupert Bunny estate, 18.5 x 22 cm
2 Catalogue: 1) Rupert Bunny's Landscapes of the South of France by David Thomas, Bendigo Art Gallery 1991, softcover 2) The Art of Rupert Bunny by Mary Eagle, Australian National Gallery 1991, hardcover with dust jacket; very good condition with crease to dust jacket
RUPERT BUNNY (1864 - 1947) JOUEURS DE CROQUET (LUXEMBOURG), c.1909 oil on canvas 81.5 x 54.0 cm signed lower left: Rupert CW Bunny PROVENANCE Private collection, France Nevill Keating Pictures, London, 2000 Christie’s, London, 16 December 2008, lot 5 Private collection, United Kingdom EXHIBITED Société Internationale de Peinture et Sculpture, Galeries Georges Petit, Paris, 1910, cat. 22 LITERATURE Gérard-Austin, A., The Greatest Voyage: Australian Painters in the Paris Salons, 1885 – 1939, doctoral thesis, Université Paris 1 – Panthéon-Sorbonne, March 2014, vol. 2, pp. 18, 83, 128 (illus.) Thomas, D., The Life and Art of Rupert Bunny, A Catalogue Raisonné in Two Volumes, Thames & Hudson, Melbourne, 2017, vol. 2: cat. O290, p. 43 (as ‘Jeux de Croquet, Jardins du Luxembourg’) ESSAY One of the most internationally successful Australian artists of his generation, Rupert Bunny was born in Melbourne and first trained at the National Gallery School, before settling permanently in Paris during the early 1890s where the belle époque was at its height. By 1904, he had become the first Australian artist to receive an honourable mention in the Société des Artistes Francais; was elected a Sociétaire of various French exhibiting institutions; and enjoyed the prestige of being the only Antipodean artist until then to have his work acquired by the French State, with Après le bain, c.1904 purchased from the New Salon for the Musée de Luxembourg (now the Musée d’Orsay). While Bunny continued to evoke an opulent, often indolent elegance in his works produced around the fin-de-siècle, by the pre-war years his paintings were evolving towards a more modern focus upon Parisian outdoor leisure, ‘ la chasse au bonheur’. Accordingly, around 1909 Bunny embarked upon a series of works in which his abiding preoccupation with colour and light was mediated by a new emphasis on anecdote in a signature Parisian location – the Luxembourg Gardens – where he frequently sketched with fellow expatriates Phillips Fox and his wife Ethel Carrick, and Kathleen O’Connor. Yet while portraying the same gentle life of the affluent bourgeoisie, Bunny’s tonally denser oils such as the exquisite Jouers de Croquet, Luxembourg, c.1909 diverge from the lighter, more freely executed interpretations of O’Connor and Carrick Fox in particular – both of whom believed that the modern path lay in embracing Impressionism and its drive towards the fragmentation of form.1 By contrast, Bunny’s paintings from this period such as the closely related In the Luxembourg Gardens, c.1909 (Art Gallery of New South Wales); Luxembourg Gardens, c.1908 – 10 (Wesfarmers Collection of Australian Art, Perth); and Bridge (Luxembourg), c.1909 (private collection, Melbourne) are distanced from immediate experience, declaring themselves products of the studio and intellect. Notwithstanding such commitment to studio practice however, his small pochades which formed the basis for many of the final compositions – alongside numerous pencil impressions produced by Bunny en plein air (and contained in his Villa Lilli sketchbook in the National Gallery of Victoria) – reveal that in the Luxembourg Gardens at least, the practices of the tonal academic and the Impressionist were merging.2 Capturing brilliantly the spirit and élan of Parisian society in these pre-war years, Jouers de Croquet, Luxembourg, c.1909 attests to the way in which Bunny successfully created an art appropriate to his time and the conditions of modernity – assimilating avant-garde modes into establishment practice. Transforming the prosaic into the poetic, thus Bunny offered contemporary audiences a vision of the everyday exuding joie de vivre and ‘…a peaceful remoteness from the ‘sturm and drang’ of modern life’.3 As leading French art critic of the day Gustave Geffroy observed of the artist’s celebrated solo exhibition at Galerie George Petit, Paris later that decade, Bunny’s paintings express ‘the luminous joy of daylight… and the pleasure of living in the shadow of trees looking out on a festival of sunshine… [He] is a realist and a visionary, an observer of truth and a poet of the world of dreams.’4 1. Edwards, D., ‘From fin de siècle to belle époque’ in Edwards, D et al., Rupert Bunny: Artist in Paris, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 2009, p. 81 2. Ibid. 3. Sydney Morning Herald, 22 September 1911, p. 7 4. Geffroy, G., ‘Rupert Bunny: Introduction’, Exposition Rupert C.W. Bunny, Galeries Georges Petit, Paris, 1917, n. p. VERONICA ANGELATOS
RUPERT BUNNY 1864-1947 On the Cliff (1910) oil on canvas signed 'Rupert C W Bunny' lower left 65 x 80.5 cm frame: Graham Reynolds, Brisbane, 2005 (stamped verso) PROVENANCE Rupert Bunny, Paris David Hughes, London Joseph Brown Gallery, Melbourne, acquired from the above in 1973 Sir Leon and Lady Trout, Brisbane, acquired from the above on 17 October 1973 The Collection of Sir Leon and Lady Trout, Christie's Australia, Brisbane, 6 June 1989, lot 173, 'Beach Scene with Woman Reading', illustrated Private Collection, acquired from the above EXHIBITED Exhibition of Pictures by Rupert Bunny, Athenaeum Hall, Melbourne, 24 July - 14 August 1911, no. 59, 40 gns Spring Exhibition 1973: Recent Acquisitions, Joseph Brown Gallery, Melbourne, 24 October - 7 November 1973, no. 21, 'On the Foreshore', illustrated Masterworks from the Collection of Sir Leon and Lady Trout, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, 21 September - 21 November 1977, no. 2, 'On the Foreshore' LITERATURE Jean-Claude Lesage, Peintures Australiens à Étaples, Étaples-sur-Mer, 2000, pp. 47 (illustrated), 116, 'Femme Lisant sue la Plage' David Thomas, The Life and Art of Rupert Bunny: A Catalogue Raisonné, Thames and Hudson, Melbourne, 2017, Vol. 2, cat. no. O246, p. 38, 'Beach Scene with Woman Reading, c. 1907'
RUPERT BUNNY (1864-1947) Scene in Botanical Gardens c.1932-33 oil on canvas signed lower left with monogram: RB 48 x 58cm PROVENANCE: Mrs D. Thomas Christie's, 19 June 1978, lot 195 as "Melbourne Botanical Gardens" Private collection, Melbourne EXHIBITIONS: Exhibition of Paintings by Rupert C. W. Bunny: Scenes from the Botanical Gardens and other works, Athenaeum Art Gallery, Melbourne, 4-15 July 1933 LITERATURE: Turnbull, C., and Buesst, T., The Art of Rupert Bunny, Ure Smith, Sydney, 1948, p. 72, 'Lunch in the Gardens' Thomas, D., The Life and Art of Rupert Bunny: A Catalogue Raisonne, Thames and Hudson, vol. 2, p.99, cat.no. O1055 OTHER NOTES: Melbourne born Rupert Bunny worked in Australia and France. He was a frequent exhibitor in Parisian salons and developed a familiarity with the Parisian art scene. As Australian art critic John McDonald stated, "It is no exaggeration to say that Bunny had the greatest international reputation of any Australian-born painter".
RUPERT BUNNY (1864-1947) Nude Study 1927 ink on paper signed with monogram, dated and inscribed lower right: RCWB To Binky from Rupert W Bunny 12.3.27 30.5 x 21cm
RUPERT BUNNY (1864 - 1947) BACCHANALE (BACCHANAL), c.1910 oil on canvas on composition board 113.0 x 149.5 cm signed lower left: Rupert C W Bunny PROVENANCE William Frater, Melbourne Bill Harding, Melbourne, a gift from the above Thence by decent Private collection, Melbourne EXHIBITED Salon d’Automne, Grand Palais des Champs–Élysées, Paris, 1 October – 8 November 1910, cat. 183 (as ‘Bacchanale’) Exhibition of Paintings by Rupert Bunny, Athenaeum Art Gallery, Melbourne, 4 – 15 July 1933, cat. 2 (as ‘Bacchanal’) LITERATURE L’Art et les Artistes, Paris, November 1910, p. 81 ‘Art Notes: The Art of Rupert Bunny’, The Age, Melbourne, 4 July 1933, p. 12 Thomas, D., The Life and Art of Rupert Bunny, A Catalogue Raisonné in Two Volumes, Thames & Hudson, Melbourne, 2017, volume 1: pp. 158, 159, 160 (illus.); volume 2: cat. O333, p. 47 ESSAY One of the most internationally successful Australian artists of his generation, Rupert Bunny was born in Melbourne and first trained at the National Gallery School, before settling permanently in Paris during the early 1890s where la belle époque was at its height. By 1904, he had become the first Australian artist to receive an honourable mention in the Société des Artistes Francais; was elected a sociétaire of various French exhibiting institutions; and enjoyed the prestige of being the only Antipodean artist until then to have his work acquired by the French State, with Après le bain, c.1904 bought from the New Salon for the Musée de Luxembourg (now the Musée d’Orsay). First exhibited at the Salon d’Automne in October 1910 alongside such radical works as Matisse’s iconic La Danse, 1910, now in The Hermitage, St Petersburg , Bacchanale (Bacchanal), c.1910 heralded a significant new chapter in Bunny’s oeuvre that featured vibrant mythological paintings conceived in the academic figure tradition, yet ground-breaking in their bold palette and pulsating rhythms. Like his fauvist contemporary, Bunny too was profoundly influenced by the audacity, colour and raw energy of Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes who had sacked the bastille of Parisian sensibilities the previous year with their scandalous performances of Prince Igor and Cleopatra combining outrageous choreography with exotic tales of sex and violence.1 A daring and then-unprecedented foray into modernism by an Australian artist, indeed Bacchanale may well have been one of the works that prompted fellow expatriate artist, Phillips Fox, to describe Bunny in 1911 as ‘…a little bitten by the post-impressionists.’2 As elaborated by David Thomas in his comprehensive catalogue raisonné of the artist, the bold ‘…flatness of the picture plane and occasional awkwardness in the profiling of the foreground figures’ in Bacchanale further augmented its modern, ‘mural-like effect.’3 Set in the south of France where Bunny was to spend so much time during the coming decades, ‘…the striking play of light and flickering highlights add to the visual excitement. The whorl of figures, of lovers or those exhausted by their pleasures, centres on Silenus, greedily drinking from a flask of wine. In the distant centre, a group dances with Bacchic exuberance, while on the hill slope to the left, centaurs gallop in pursuit of a luckless nymph into the forest. The painting expresses the frenzied pleasure and intoxicated chaos that is part of the Bacchic rite, celebrated in honour of Bacchus, god of wine.’4 Interestingly, Bacchanale was originally gifted by Bunny to fellow artist Jock Frater with whom he shared a close friendship in Melbourne from the 1920s onwards. Both participated in group exhibitions with the Twenty Melbourne Painters from 1927; the Contemporary Art Group from 1931; Contemporary Art Society 1939; and the Victorian Artists Society, and also enjoyed regular social catch ups together at Café Francois, and later Mario’s in the 1930s, as well as Bunny’s South Yarra flat. Several years later, Frater subsequently gifted the work to Bill Harding, a student whom he mentored from the 1950s until Frater’s death in 1974 through weekly painting sessions at Lucerne Cres, Alphington, Bill’s studio in Templestowe, or en plein air in favourite localities. 1. Thomas, D., The Life and Art of Rupert Bunny, A Catalogue Raisonné in Two Volumes, Thames & Hudson, Melbourne, 2017, volume 1, p. 158, volume 2: cat. O333, p. 47 2. Fox, letter to Hans Heysen, 13 September 1911 3. Thomas, op.cit. 4. Ibid. VERONICA ANGELATOS
![BUNNY Rupert C W (1864-1947), 'Port of Toulon [South of France]' c.1925., Oil on Canvas, 53x64cm](https://stageimg.invaluable.com/housePhotos/davidson/63/771563/H3427-L372566056.jpg)
![BUNNY Rupert C W (1864-1947), Study for Waterfront, Bandol [South of France], c.1929., Oil on Board, 18.5x22.5cm](https://stageimg.invaluable.com/housePhotos/davidson/97/759597/H3427-L354448708.jpg)
![BUNNY Rupert C W (1864-1947), 'February, Cavalaire [Côte d'Azur, France]' c.1910., Oil on Canvas on Board, 49x59cm](https://stageimg.invaluable.com/housePhotos/davidson/06/743206/H3427-L322071006.jpg)
