Fine American & European Paintings & Sculpture 12/02/12

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CARL CLEMENS MORITZ RUNGIUS
(american 1869-1959)
GRIZZLY BEAR
Signed ‘C. Rungius’ bottom right, oil on
canvas, unframed
30 x 40 in. (76.2 x 101.6cm)
provenance:
Private Collection, Virginia.
$200,000-300,000
Considered the first wildlife painter
in America, Carl Rungius (1869-
1959) was both a sportsman and an
artist who depicted animals in their
natural environs. A native of Rixdorf,
Germany – now present-day Berlin –
he had a keen interest in nature and
art from an early age, particularly
that of the American West. Its vast,
uncharted territory would present
Rungius with greater opportunities
to both hunt and paint, and a
fortuitous invitation from his uncle
to travel to America was pivotal in
shaping his career. Eventually
becoming a prolific and celebrated
artist, much in the tradition of the
Hudson River painters who
preceded him, he glorified the
American landscape. Rungius also
became a champion of the
conservation movement, and was
pitted against the forces of late
19th-century Western
expansionism.
After immigrating to the Unites
States in 1896, Rungius maintained
a New York studio while he travelled
extensively throughout Yellowstone,
Wyoming, Montana, Alaska and the
Yukon, eventually establishing a
summer studio in Banff, Alberta in
1922, known as ‘The Paintbox’.
Following in the tradition of the
plein-air painters of the 19th and
20th-centuries, Rungius dutifully
studied and recorded his subjects,
revealing not only a great love and
respect for nature and its
inhabitants, but a concern for
depicting animals and landscapes
with fidelity. As such, it is not
surprising that he enjoyed a
successful career as an illustrator of
books, magazines and other
material promoting conservation
and the support of endangered
animals.
Rungius was not alone in his
portrayal of animals; a century
earlier, sporting artists of Britain
achieved notoriety in painting
equine-themed subjects, including
thoroughbreds and racehorses.
However, in such pictures, while the
animals are portrayed realistically
and in a dignified manner, they are
rarely depicted in their natural
environments. Instead, whether with
a jockey up or with a groom, to
name but two common themes of
the period, the horses’ identities and
importance are both inseparable
from, and justified by, the existence
of sportsmen in full racing/hunting
regalia. In 19th-century Britain, and
to a lesser extent parts of the
Continent, the worth of an animal is
directly tied to its owner, with the
latter viewing the former almost
strictly as an instrument providing
commerce and social standing.
Rungius, along with many wildlife
painters he would later influence,
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free≤an’s
fine american & european paintings & sculpture
12/02/12
very rarely included humans in his
paintings, for to do so would be
wholly antithetical to his idyllic
depictions, unspoiled by humans
and their encroachment on nature.
We are pleased to offer this Rungius
painting depicting a stately grizzly
bear. Immortalized on canvas, this
impressive creature joins his many
other works of moose, big horn
sheep, caribou, mountain goats,
pack horses, and antelope, all
capturing the spirit and beauty of
magnificent animals in the precious
natural and threatened world they
inhabit.