Richmond Palladium (Daily), Volume 92, Number 116, 16 May 1922 — Page 8

THE RICHMOND PALLADIUM AMD SUN-TELEGRAM, RICHMOND, . IND., TUESDAY, MAY 16, 1922. Bundy, Local Painter of Landscapes and Beech Trees Enjoys Long Work Days at Studio; Products of His Brush Gaining Wide Vogue as Country Recognizes Genius of Our Own Artist 3 Today, at 69, Richmond Painter of Landscapes and Beech Trees Enjoys Long Work Days and Sees Prod- , uct of His Brush Gaining Wide Vogue Tells Modestly of His Early Struggles and of Success Which Forces Him to Overtime

PAGE, EIGHT

-f- - -uy - , C

I ' ' lb " ' 1

Exertion. An Indianapolis newspaper recently

contained the following about J. E. Bundy of this city. RIOHMOND, Ind., May 13. "How long have you been painting beech trees; and how many trees do you think you must have painted in your lifetime?" These questions were put to the most unaffected, kindly-faced and kindly-mannered nan I had met anywhere in the 'state and certainly tht dean of the Indiana artist colony, John Elwood Eundy, as we sat in his roomy, comfortable studio at 527 West Main street, here in Richmond. By the word "studio" I do not mean that the reader Is to visualize a Bohemian-like, cobwebby atmosphere, a place littered with oil tubes, palettes and daubed with paint, rubbish - and whatnots; but a homelike place where any man who has earned his retirement may receive his friends and forset the workaday world, say for an hour. ... " '.. " , . ; But that is the very thing that John Elwood Bunday does not forget work

and he spells it in capital letters, WORK His work is the all-day sort, the work day that is "straight through," as he puts it, from sunrise, or even before sunrise, to the twilight's glow. And, very often, you'll find him up and astir long before sunrise at his country workshop, six miles southeast of Richmond, at the edge of the woods, where he has three rooms, ' kitchen, bedroom and work or studio, room, and where he goer, in the early i autumn and stays through to the middle of winter, catching the fall foliage, the landscape, the frosts and the snows, and nature in all her moods. . Then he returns, at the end of fully three months of hard, outdoor work, i often painting with cold and benumbed fingers, bringing back his finished sketches and transferring, or "transplanting" them to the canvases which go out to all the world's best galleries. An Outdoor Masterpiece It was in his Richmond studio, on West Main street, that: I found Mr. Bundy and I found him at work. He was 69 years old May 1, and he had been laid low by a two months' siege with influenza, brought on by exposure to the elements in getting his most recent picture, "The Breaking Up of Winter." He had gone without breakfast to get that one picture. He made four drawings in the outdoors before he wis satisfied with the finished sketch. Now that he's over his illness, he tells me he wouldn't sell the picture for any sum, because he feels certain he has put down on canvas, for his own edification and enjoyment in his studio what he likes to think tvpines "The Last of the Snow," "A Winter Mi6t" these, or the other subject, "The Breaking Up of Winter," being his own chosen theme for the work. - To get back to the original question rt to Mr. Bundy, "How long have you been painting beech trees, and how mauy have you painted?' he Replied: Painted Many Pictures "I've painted a great many of them I c not know how many. I was first attracted to the beech because it is so numerous here in Indiana. I flunk the beech right here In Wayne county is the finest I have seen anywhere. I like the woodland and, -of course, I could not paint -a woodland without painting the beech. This is the longest 'rest I've had for thirty-three years. My illness started with a heavy J coia ana grip, aue to winter sKetchmg outdoors in mid-January. I can not stand the exposure, I find, as I once did. Then, since late in Januarv I have been out of touch with all work."j "What is your best time of day for painting?" was the next query. j "I like the early morning, or the twilight for the late afternoon effects," he replied. "How many hours a day do you work?" "Well, it depends on what I am working on. When out, I paint when the mood is on. Indoors I work the day "straight through.' rarely stopping and rarely idle, except for some refreshment. But I've been practically two months an invalid, and so. of course, I had to stop then," Mr. Bundy added, with a whimsical smile. Worthy of. Close Study. One stops instinctively to study this best beloved of the Hoosier artist colony, even before one studies his pictures and there are three or four score of them lying about, on walls, on easels, and in little piles, or leaning carelessly against the wainscoating of the room. Imagine yourself seated in a gallery .room, say 18x26 feet, with a high ceiling and skylight, and adjoining it the studio room, 18x18 feet, and you have a fairly comprehensive idea of the onestory structure, in the rear of a cozy dwelling at 527 West Main street, where Mr. Bundy- makes his home with Mr. and Mrs. Elwood Morris. Mr. Morris, too, is a painter. First of all, you are attracted to Mr. Bunday by his simple, unaffected manner and charm. You are attracted by the wealth of his snow-white hair, his kindly eye, a simple suit of black with tie of simple pattern, block with white figure, a luxuriantly flowing snow-white mustache. Tall, straight, with no outward w-eight of the now nearly three-score-and-ten showing that is Mr. Bundy as he is today. You are conscious of one other factor in his makeup, the long, strong, self-trained hand, the hand that Is steady, but vigorous, trained to work and to work unerringly. This Is the picture of Mr. Bunday that Mr. Bunday might have painted for himself, if he would; but his good friend. Robert Grafton, is going to do that for him as a return courtesy. You see. Mr. Bundy has painted Mr. Griafton ana now air. uraiion is gums mlnaint Mr. Bundy just an exchange sort of picture, he tola me, wun a file. . Struggles "-Ob yes, Mr. Bundy nas h;l them, "yuue eany, ai o, i

1. John Elwood Bunday at work In his studio workroom at Richmond, Ind. Though not 69, he puts in full work das and his pictures sell readily throughout tht country. He could dispose of double the number of paintings he is able to produce, and at good prices. 2. One of Mr. Bundy's paintings, "The Glow of Sunset on the Beeches," now In a private collection at Grand Rapids, Mich. 3. The building seen at the rear, No. 527 West Main street, Richmond, Ind., is the studio of John Elwood Bundy, one of the best known of Indiana artists. Here Mr. Bundy does all his finished work, and here he ha? labored steadily and successfully for many years, marked success crowning several years of struggle. 4. The picture, "Beeches In Winter," was sold to Emil Dietz of Indianapolis nineteen ytars ago, and now hangs in Herron Art Institute, Indianapolis. 5. "Morning at the Edge of the Woods," is a typical Bundy painting, showing several of his favorite majestic beech trees In the morning glow. 6'. ."Winter On the Old Farm." This gem from the brush of Bundy is In the possession of the Art As sociation of Richmond, Ind. doing pictures and sketches that attracted some attention," Mr. Bunday was saying In his sofU voice as we seated ourselves In his gallery room, facing his finished pictures and sketches. "Up to that time, I had not seen a good picture, nor did I see one for a long time after I came to Indiana, a little more than five I Tears old. with mv nnwnta Wo hart come from North Carolina, 'My father v.as a farmer all his life. Mr. Bundy's old home was near Greensboro, Guilford county, North Carolina, where he was born May 1, 1853. The family made the long trip to Indiana in a prairie schooner, pass ing through the scenery of the Vir ginias, with ample time to see it. It is said of Mr. Bundy by his friends here that the varying color, and big wonder 6t the landscape so impressed his child mind that it remained with him an abiding inspiration to see beauty in nature and to try to find a way to express what he saw. Remembers Painting. He says: "To this day I can remember the 'Hawk's Nest' almost well enough to paint it." The family, father, mother and nine children, settled In the Quaker neighborhood of Monrovia in western Indiana, and there in tbe Quaker school, dubbed "Boneset seminary," Mr. Bundy received that early training which still holds him as a disciple and, follower of ,the Friends church. "Indeed, I've had struggles," he went on, quite candidly when I mentioned those early adventures into the realm of art, the great book of nature. "When I came to Richmond, there was no demand for pictures at all. When I came here I taught for eight years in Earlham college. There was no salary attached to the chair, I had io take it for what I could get, and therefore, I earned only a good living. So I had to cut loose from it and go out and work with nature. I couldn't get the art class to go out all at one time, except on Saturdays, and then I could not do anything to develop my own talent. His Early Struggles. "Then I began to paint all the time, leaving the college in 1896. So it seems that I began about 24 years ago, here in Richmond, and I've worked around here for 33 years. . In the first eight years, you understand, I lectured on art and was head of the art school at Earlham. Since leaving that college, I've been painting all the while. My early pictures were almost given away in order to get the Richmond Art association started. T. A. Mott, ex-superintendent of the Richmond schools, now superintendent of schools at Franklin, Ind., was my right-hand man here. The art association was started in the year after I left Earlham. Two or three artists at that time were doing some good work. They went out often, sketching together, and they decided to give an exhibition of their work. "Instead of having a selfish exhibition of our own, we decided to join with some women artists and go in together. Our first exhibition, here in the Richmond high school, was held in 1898. Mr. Mott being then head of the schools. Incidentally, he was our best help in putting the association on its feet. Mrs. Ella Bond Johnston, wife of Dr. Melville F. Johnston, should have the biggest share of tho honor. We could not have done the work without her. She is still active in the art work of the city. Dr. Johnston, her husband, is

one of our best known physicians, and , for several years was president of the school board of Richmond. Mrs. Johnston works at it all the time. It is through her that we have the best exhibits from the eastern cities. She is the general manager and director of the gallery. Finding a Market "What is your difficulty if you have one in finding a market for your finished pictures?" I asked Mr. Bundy. "I have not exhibited very much," he replied. "In New York, I have exhibited at the Academy of Fine Arts; at the Philadelphia Art School; at the Corcoran Art Gallery, in Washington, D. C, and at the Chicago Art institute, as far back as 1904. Of course, I am a member of the Art Association of Richmond. My dealer has kept my pictures moving and has sold more than I could possibly have painted. I am represented at the St. Louis City Museum and at Indianapolis. Three of my pictures are in the Herron Art iiv stitute of Indianapolis. Herron institute has the 'Wane of Winter,' one ot my best pictures. It was painted six years ago and was awarded the open prize; and they bougnt it aiterwara for the Herron collection." "Where do you find your best subjests ?"I asked Mr. Bundy. "In these Wayne county woods," he answered. "I have worked in northern Michigan quite a good deal. One of my pictures in Herron Art institute, was painted there. It was done at Roaring Brook, near Petoskey, Mich. I formerly went there each summer, but have not done so for several years. "How high do they go in price? I should say around $1,800. . That one you see on the wall, 'The Oaks,' was painted in the country, a mile and a half of Richmond. I have no difficul ty In finding buyers, at all. I could sell, easily, twice as many pictures as I paint." "And how long, Mr. Bundy, have you worked in this one studio?" How Morris Started "Twenty-two years, to be exact," was his reply. "You see, it is a sort of studio-dwelling for me, although I live with my good artist friend, Mr. Morris. Mr. Morris works with me. He gave up a profitable bookstore bus iness here In Richmond to devote all! his time to art. He wanted to do; painting; now his wish is gratified, i He will make quite a success. He will; get on'; of that I am sure. He's absolutely rigid In his work. He sees and j paints what he feels without studying' other people's art or trying to. 'copy."! Though Mr. Bundy did not say so, in ! so many words, it was patent that Mr. j Morris worked close by the hand of Bundy. the master, and that this touch and close association and contact inspired, no less than it quickened and accelerated, his work. One of Mr. Bundy's pictures, 20x28, was sent to Indianapolis by him as a contribution to the Russian Relief fund. This canvas, "Lick Creek Hills in Winter," brought $300. Artists of Indianapolis and other cities throughout the state had been invited to con-' tribute to this fund. Mr. Bundy wasj one among the number that did so j and he is heartily glad of it. One of j his largest pictures, of a beech wood,! near Richmond, was done in two! hours. A still larger canvas, 36x46 inches, a wodland study, represents the work, of two afternoons, direct from nature. Passes Up Business Mr. Bundy was asked whether or not he might handle, or control, the canvases he turns out, without the assistance or domination of a dealer, or middleman. "I haven't the time to fool with the business end of the painting game," was his reply. "I'm satisfied with my living, as it is; and I

W:xt know that the dealer doesn't always havft the smoothest sailing in the matter of buyers. Art lovers and art buyers are critical, exacting. "The matter of controlling my own output has been broached previously, but I'm glad to have my picturea scattered so well over the United States. I could not, by any means, have done so well in that respect as has the dealer. He has found a wide field for my work; so, from that standpoint, he has been a great help. This dealer, for illustration, has placed thirty of my paintings in Duluth, Minn., and perhaps twenty-four or twenty-five in Tulsa, Okla. He travels as far west as Los Angeles, Cal., and to other points beyond the Rockies, and, of course, he nas boiq ana placed my canvases there. That gives me a wider field of j acquaintanceship and friendship with! the art-loving public; it establishes me in a field, and with a clientele that I could not find for myself. "Exhibits at the leading art galler-

John Elwood Bundy A Tribute By Ella Bond Johnston Of these landscape painter-historians no one sees beauty in nature more poetically or expresses it with a vision and technique more uninfluenced by the ideas and conventions of other painters than does John Elwood Bundy. He sings naturally, in the language of color, the beauty of the Hoosier landscape, just as James Whitcomb Riley gives us in words the charm of his Hoosier neighbors and friends. Folks cultivated and uncultivated, enjoy the works of both. In studying the works of such a painter you discover that the seeing eye and a great desire may beget the expressive hand, which Bomehbw finds the way with paint and canvass to record visions of beauty as unlettered poets manage somehow to find words and rhymes for an overflowing heart. For such a painter you can not record the usual satisfactory history of

preparation as so many years of study

great names as teachers, and the subsequent years of work abroad. Instead, you can only record that he had at hand the great face of nature with all its changing expressions; that a happy accident, or it may be a special providence, sometimes sent him a new pencil, a better piece of paper, or tho long-dreamed-of treasure of a box of water colors; that he once went starved to a great world's fair, where he devoured the art section with insatiable hunger, and came away filled with the inspiration that says, "I, too, can." When Mr. Bundy was asked whether he could recall his earliest impression of anything beautiful, he replied: "Yes, indeed, I can never forget that. It was when, as a very little child, in my early home in North Carolina, I sat by my mother at the loom watching the bright-colored threads grow into the beautiful patterns as she wove the old-fashioned .coverlets." There remained in his mind, along with this early memory of a beautiful handicraft, also mental pictures of views about the old homestead, which was situated in a picturesque region near Guilford college. His paintings have been great teachers, opening the eyes of the unseeing to find beauty in nature as he sees it, and to appreciate and enjoy the expression of it on canvas. His work will live to show coming generations the character of the native landscape in the Whitewater valley of Indiana and the beautiful way one sensitive soul felt about it, for he is both landscape historian and poet catching and recording in paint on canvas the beauty which slowly but inevitably is passing, to be replaced by a landscape that will be more man-made than nature-made.

ies bring their own rewards. My picture, 'An Open Landscape,' exhibited in Philadelphia about 1906, was one ot the first to be sold in that collection, so I was told. It was marked 'sold' very near the beginning of the show; and, of course, that was pleasant news to an artist struggling for recognition. The same thing happened in St. Louis in 1897, where one of my pictures was sold. Later, one of my pictures was bought for $1,000 for the St. Louis city art museum. Proud of Morris "That small picture you see in the frame is Mr. Morris's 'The Hill Road." and it is finely done. The size is 16 x20 inches. P is an autumn landscape and it only shows, to my mind, what Mr. Morns "will be able to do In a larger field. He has the sympathetic understanding of the woods and of na ture's moods, and he paints with fine sympathy. This sketch was made four years ago, last fall, between Matamoras and Brookville, and right close at a good art school, with a list of i

to Matamoras Itself. The 6cene of the sketch was about a quarter of a mile out, on the Canal road. "That one, at the right, 'Meadow Pasture,' was painted by myself before sunrise, when frost was spread over the landscape. This was done at 'Cedar Crest studio, my workshop in the country. A Winter Morning,' as it looked from my studio window, was done when the big snow of 19171918 was on tho ground. 'A Row of Beeches,' close by tlhe studio, was done after a rainy spell. A copy of this picture is in Herron Art institute,

at Indianapolis. I have made this studio picture, 28x40 inches, for my own enjoyment here in my city studio. "Artist sketches are worth much more than their face value indicates. Some of my best pictures are painted in the studio, after many outdoor studies of the subject, and these. ' therefore, are valuable to the artist for later work. You should see the I collection of John Nixon, a baker at j Centerville. He knows art and has I one of the best collections in the state." Centerville Collector. Incidentally, it is worthy of note that John Nixon, who has been a frugal butcher-baker at Centerville, has : kept on buying pictures, year after 'year, until he is in position perhaps j to match any collection, by Indiana 'artists, strictly, anywhere in Hooslerjdom. Mr. Nixon has 14 or 15 of Mr. Bundy's best works. What he will do with them, one day, has not been indicated; but he keeps on quietly collecting them here and there, against the day when he may endow a school ; of arts somewhere in his native baili- ; wick. It might be remarked, also, ttiat if nature should not hold out for iMr. Bundy, he has enough sketches on ! canvas in his Richmond studio, and j "stored away in his accurate memory." as Mrs. Ella Bond Johnston put j it, "from which his synthetic imagina- ; tion could many times create anew her image." ! John Nixon at Centerville has something done by nearly every Indiana artist. He i3 aiming at a Tepresenta - tive Indiana collection and "he knows a picture," as Mr. Bundy put it. He has others, besides Mr. Bundy's, by Wayman Adams, William Forsyth, T. C. Steele, Clifton Wheeler and others. I asked Mr. Bunday, in this connection, wliose work he liked best of the j master artists. "I like the work of George Inness, the New York artist, who died in the late '90's," he replied. "Among the masters Inness is my really favorite artist because he was so poetic in all

that he did. I did not know much about Inness or his work until I had decided on my own field of art. Tribute to Inness. "Had I seen his work earlier, I probably would have changed my style. It certainly would have had some influence over my feelings for art, at least. I certainly have enjoyed his work more than that of any other artist that I can think of. I like a picture, like Inness's', that gives you something to think about that has something left to study and think through." Mr. Bunday was asked how'it felt "to be on the last lap of the art marathon at three-score-and-ten, or nearly so," and he replied: "I've been a hard worker all mv life." Mr. Bundy's younger son, Arthur I Bundy, who has a photographic studio here in Richmond, has made a verv striking likeness of his father, in working gown, and with palette and brush, standing in critical mood over one of his own creations, clamped to ' a large upright oaken frame. "My favorite picture of myself is the one at work," Mr. Bundy commented; "so we brought this one back to show our friends of The Sunday Star where and how tho artist works." The city studio, here in Richmond, has no distinguishing mark, except that it stands at the end of a little

concrete driveway, bordered with trailing, vines and roses. "My own lifeis not much for variety," he went on. "t's just work, all the time except Sundays." Art at Martinsville. "I taught a class in art at Martinsville, around 1886," Mr. Bundy went on, as he looked back over some of those past, lean years. "This was one year before I came to Richmond. I have two sons, Arthur L. Bundy, the eldest, here in Richmond, and Walter E. Bunday, a younger son, i3 connected with the Burlington railroad as a civil engineer. He has an office in Chicago." Mr. Budy still has the first old pine easel he ever worked with. He bought ii ne aoesn i remember where, or from whom here in Richmond, in the late '80's, and still uses it in his work. Knowledge of the world's best paintings is to be rewastfed handsomely in the "famous picture contest." which is being conducted here in Richmond to increase an appreciation ofx fine art. The contest is similar to tb "famous music contests" that have been held all over the country recently. Mr. Bundy has offered one of his productions for this contest. Several members of the Richmond . group of artists also have placed paintings at the disposal of the committee, to be awarded to persons who show the best knowledge of masterpieces. After an educational campaign, the pictures will be thrown on a screen, and the contestants will be asked to name them and write short descriptions. The Art Association of Richmond ranks high among the art centers of the coiyitry. Its present roster of officers is: President,, William Dudley Foulke; vice president, W. G. Bate (who also is superintendent of the Richmond schools); secretary, E. C. Cline, principal in the Richmond schools; treasurer, Francis H. Edmonds; and director, Mrs. M. F. Johnston. Mrs. Johnston served as senior docent in the Art Palace, San Francisco, exposition, 1915; was chairman of the art department of the General Federation of Women's clubs, 19121916; and is the organizer of traveling art exhibits and a lecturer on art subjects. She directed a six-months' art tour in Europe, 1911, and three and 1 one-half months 1921. This year, starting June 1, Mrs. Johnston is to take a party of women to Europe to study art and architecture as she did last year. " She says o ofthi8 trip: "All worthre Vips to Europe are art while pleasure tours, for it isthe art of the Old

World that still fynains in sculpture, painting and aichfyicture to tell our eyes the continued V and fascinating A i story of the achievements and joys of the human race in its progress toward modern times."