Australian painter and printmaker, Rupert Bunny was born on 29 September 1864 in Melbourne, the son of an English-born barrister and Prussian-Polish mother. He studied at the National Gallery School, Melbourne, from 1881 to 1884, where fellow students included E. Phillips Fox , Florence Fuller , John Longstaff , Bertram Mackennal , Arthur Streeton and Tudor St George Tucker .

In 1884, Bunny travelled with his father to Europe and attended the St John’s Wood Art School, London. From 1886 to 1889, he studied in Paris under Jean-Paul Laurens. In his early work, Bunny took his subjects from mythology and the Bible and also painted symbolist landscapes. While living in London from 1902 to 1903, he married former fellow student and favourite model, Jeanne Morel. At this time, he met and received portrait commissions from the Australian musicians Nellie Melba, Ada Crossley, Percy Grainger and also the novelist, Henry Handel Richardson.

From 1904, Bunny and his wife made their home in France, though he did make regular visits to London to see his family and to exhibit. That year, family friend Alfred Felton bequeathed to Bunny a life annuity of £100. In Paris he met Jacques-Emile Blanche and J.D. Fergusson, Fox and Ethel Carrick , and he taught Bessie Davidson, Rose McPherson ( Margaret Preston ), Gladys Reynell and Marie Tuck , who subsequently became good friends. He moved away from idealised subjects towards intimate images of women at leisure indoors, on balconies or sunlit outdoor settings. In 1909, Bunny taught with Blanche and Fergusson. He visited Australia in 1911. In 1912, he was elected societaire of the Societe Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Paris. By 1913 Bunny had started work on a series of mythological decorations, influenced by Post-Impressionism and the decorative approach used by artists such as Fergusson.

During the First World War, Bunny worked in the American Hospital in Paris. Afterwards, he continued to paint mythological subjects and landscapes, mainly of the south of France. He visited Australia in 1928 and, in 1933, he returned to Melbourne to live. His early love of music enriched his last years, when he turned to composing ballet music, working in his South Yarra studio. Rupert Bunny died on 25 May 1947 in a private hospital in Melbourne, aged 82.

Writers:

Gray, Dr Anne Note: Head of Australian Art, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, ACT

Date written:

2006

Last updated:

2011