The Tile Club: Camaraderie and American Plein-Air Painting The Tile Club | Page 64

William Gedney Bunce
American, 1840–1916
William Gedney Bunce was born in Hartford, Connecticut, and
began his training there with the German-born artist Julius T.
Busch in 1856. He served for two years in the First Connecticut
Cavalry during the Civil War and was discharged due to a leg
wound. After the war, he studied with William Hart, a landscape
painter, and attended classes at the Cooper Union in New York
City. In 1867 Bunce began a twelve-year stint abroad. He arrived
first in Paris, and later studied with Andreas Achenbach in Düs-
seldorf, Germany, and Paul Jean Clays in Brussels, finally reaching
Italy some years later. It was here, specifically Venice, where he
would spend much of his time over the next few decades.
Described as “the painter of Venice” as well as “our own Amer-
patrons were Daniel Cottier, a Scottish artist and designer; Stan- Frank Duveneck (American, 1848–1919), Caricature of Wil-
liam Gedney Bunce, 1883–1884, monotype in brown on ivory
wove paper, 17 x 12 1/3 in., Art Institute of Chicago, restricted
gift of Mr. and Mrs. T. Stanton Armour, the John H. Wrenn
Memorial Fund, and Mr. and Mrs. T. Stanton Armour En-
dowment, 1986.107
“much of the English repute of William Gedney Bunce…was REFERENCES:
ican Turner,” Bunce was known for his vibrant Venetian vistas
which were painted with a palette knife and his fingers rather
than a paintbrush, the latter a technique reportedly used by Tit-
ian, the acclaimed Venetian renaissance painter. Among Bunce’s
ford White; and Queen Victoria. The New York Times claimed that
directly due to Queen Victoria’s fondness for his brilliant sunsets.”
Bunce returned to New York in 1879, but continued to travel
frequently. He was a member of the National Academy of Design,
Society of American Artists, the National Institute of Arts and
Letters, and the Players Club, Lotos Club, and Tile Club. Toward
the end of his life he divided his time between Italy and Hart-
ford where he lived with his sister and brother-in-law, Ellen and
Archibald Welch. Tragically, Bunce was struck and killed by an au-
tomobile on November 5, 1916; it was one of the first car accidents
in Hartford.
Dearinger, David Bernard. ed. Paintings and Sculpture in the
Collection of the National Academy of Design. Volume 1,
1826–1925. New York: Hudson Hills Press, 2004.
Dryfhout, John. The Work of Augustus Saint-Gaudens. Hanover:
University Press of New England, 2008.
Hannan, Caryn, and Jennifer L. Herman, eds. Connecticut
Biographical Dictionary. Vol. 1, A–G. Hamburg, MI: State
History Publications, 2008.
The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography. Vol. XV. New
York: James T. White & Company, 1916.
Spassky, Natalie. American Paintings: A Catalogue of the Collec-
tion of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. II. New York:
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in association with
Princeton University Press, 1985.
“William Gedney Bunce.” New York Times, November 7, 1916, 10.
58 THE TILE CLUB: Camaraderie and American Plein-Air Painting