Rupert Bunny Land

The Australian artist Rupert Bunny first came to my attention when I was in my early twenties. Working in bookstores, I browsed my way through art books including books on Australian art. There was one book of plates of the paintings of Rupert Bunny. For a while I had a fascination for him. He was born in St Kilda and I caught a tram through that suburb to and from work. I matched his paintings with the old buildings on the tram route - I thought of St Kilda as Rupert Bunny land.

He was and is, I should say, one of my favourite Australian artists. A colourist who painted mythological and ideal subjects, sumptuous and rich. I was never really drawn to the impressionists and the Heidleberg School. Part of the attraction of Bunny was that he came from that era but - at least to me - he was obscure and forgotten. I thought of him as a discovery. I didn't know anyone who had even heard of Rupert Bunny. In those days I mixed in a Brett Whitely sort of crowd.

The development in Bunny's work away from an Academic style and towards colour is noticeable. I especially liked his Rape of Persephone, and still do.  And what about Courtesans in the Countryside! He's a wonderful painter.

Summertime, 1907

Annunciation

The Muses Plucking the Wings of the Sirens, c. 1922

The Sun Bath

The Rape of Persephone

Fresque, c. 1921

Courtesans in the Countryside