Background
William Gedney Bunce was born on September 19, 1840 in Hartford, Connecticut, the son of James M. and Elizabeth Chester Bunce.
William Gedney Bunce was born on September 19, 1840 in Hartford, Connecticut, the son of James M. and Elizabeth Chester Bunce.
His early art education was obtained at the Cooper Union School of New York and from the artist William Hart of that city, with whom he continued to study until he sailed for Europe in 1867 to become an artist resident of Paris. His studio there joined that of the famous sculptor Saint-Gaudens, who became his intimate friend and materially influenced the work of the young artist.
Later he studied art technique under Achenbach in Munich, taking still further studies with the well-known marine painter P. J. Hays in Antwerp. A painting by Ziem led Bunce to go to Venice to live, study, and paint.
William Bunce did a great amount of work while living in Venice. When asked to whom he owed most of his training, he replied, "Titian is my master. " He worked in oil, water-color, and pastel, using oil most extensively. His early work was done with a brush, but later he developed a method entirely his own, gaining delightful color effects by the use of finger and scraping knife, several of his most striking works being done in this manner.
His greatest subjects were nearly all Venetian. Attracted to Venice by its moist atmosphere, he made of Venice a dream city, being little influenced by its architecture, but preserving its poetry and its spirit. This is clearly demonstrated in such paintings as "Venice" and "On the Lagoon". "
In 1916 as the result of an automobile accident he died in a hospital in Hartford. The popularity of his work was in a great measure due to the interest of Stanford White, the American architect, and Daniel Cottier, the art dealer.
His paintings were unique in that he composed them with a palette knife rather than a paintbrush. He was of the impressionistic school though never an extremist. Painting with a total disregard for minute detail in his desire to produce effects, he emphasized the sentiment of a scene rather than the photographic reproduction.
Nevertheless, he was recognized for his sense of color and apparent simplistic design. Placing the emotional emphasis of his work in the color compositions rather than in the design, he caused nature, which he loved so well to paint, to awaken the artistic appreciation that the artist himself must have felt.
Though unified in subject, the work of Bunce is always varied in expression, his skies, clouds, and water being never the same. His work shows exquisite aerial perspective and his use of life is ever varied and always charming.
Before entering seriously into art studies he enlisted during the Civil War in the 1st Connecticut Cavalry. Here he served two years, retiring from the Union army upon receiving a wound in one of his legs, which caused him to limp during the remainder of his life.
He never married, but made his home with one of his sisters, Mrs. Archibald A. Welsh.