Moonrise
artist
Dennis Miller Bunker
(Garden City, New York, 1861 - 1890, Boston)
Date1884
Place MadeFrance, Europe
MediumPastel on paper
Dimensions36 x 55 cm (14 3/16 x 21 5/8 in.)
ClassificationsDrawings
Credit LineIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Accession numberP11n14
eMuseum ID719034
EmbARK ObjectID10816
TMS Source ID83
Last Updated8/9/24
Status
Not on viewWeb CommentaryDennis Miller Bunker made this pastel landscape in Paris when he was an art student in 1884. Pastel was a relatively modern medium and its highly saturated pigments were favored by members of the Impressionist circle, like Edgar Degas. Bunker captured a moody twilight scene of a lone figure walking along a path with the moon just visible over the hillside. Bunker embraced Impressionism, before dying tragically young at the age of 29. Grief stricken by her friend’s death, Isabella purchased this pastel from his memorial exhibition in 1891 and displayed it over her desk in the Macknight Room.
BibliographyNotesCatalogue of an Exhibition of the Pictures of Dennis Miller Bunker. Exh. cat. (Boston: St. Botolph Club, 1891), no. 50. (as an early work)
Philip Hendy. Catalogue of Exhibited Paintings and Drawings (Boston, 1931), p. 81.
Gilbert Wendel Longstreet and Morris Carter. General Catalogue (Boston, 1935), p. 71.
Philip Hendy. European and American Paintings in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1974), pp. 52-53, ill.
Erica Hirshler. Denis Miller Bunker: American Impressionist. Exh. cat. (Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Chicago: Terra Museum of American Art and Denver: Denver Art Museum, 1995), pp. 171, 178. (as 1884)
Hilliard Goldfarb and Erica Hirshler. Dennis Miller Bunker and His Circle. Exh. cat. (Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 1995), pp. 22-23, 61, no. 5. (as probably 1884)
Elizabeth Reluga, "American Impressionism and A Piano Trio," Inside the Collection (blog), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 29 December 2020, https://www.gardnermuseum.org/blog/american-impressionism-and-piano-trio
Philip Hendy. Catalogue of Exhibited Paintings and Drawings (Boston, 1931), p. 81.
Gilbert Wendel Longstreet and Morris Carter. General Catalogue (Boston, 1935), p. 71.
Philip Hendy. European and American Paintings in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1974), pp. 52-53, ill.
Erica Hirshler. Denis Miller Bunker: American Impressionist. Exh. cat. (Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Chicago: Terra Museum of American Art and Denver: Denver Art Museum, 1995), pp. 171, 178. (as 1884)
Hilliard Goldfarb and Erica Hirshler. Dennis Miller Bunker and His Circle. Exh. cat. (Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 1995), pp. 22-23, 61, no. 5. (as probably 1884)
Elizabeth Reluga, "American Impressionism and A Piano Trio," Inside the Collection (blog), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 29 December 2020, https://www.gardnermuseum.org/blog/american-impressionism-and-piano-trio
MarksNotesInscribed in graphite (on back of sheet): 23 / g / --/84
ProvenanceNotesIn the studio of the American painter Dennis Miller Bunker (1861-1890) at the time of his death, 28 December 1890.
Purchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner from Dennis Miller Bunker's memorial exhibtion at St. Botolph Club, Boston for $100 on 9 February 1891, no. 50.
Purchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner from Dennis Miller Bunker's memorial exhibtion at St. Botolph Club, Boston for $100 on 9 February 1891, no. 50.
