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CARL RUNGIUS
(1869 - 1959)

Carl Rungius studied at the Berlin Art Academy between 1888 and 1890. While in Berlin, he frequently sketched animals at the Berlin Zoo. His dedication to painting animals with anatomical accuracy coupled with his determination to learn and paint each animal’s mannerisms and habitat made Rungius a well-respected wildlife artist. Rungius first visited the United States in 1894, and traveled to Cora, Wyoming to hunt and sketch the following year. Rungius decided to remain in the United States spending the next decade of summers in Wyoming and the remainder of the year in his New York studio. During those years, he painted and hunted western big game animals, including moose, pronghorn and bighorn sheep in the Rocky Mountains and he completed these paintings during the long New York winters.

Rungius’ reputation as a premier wildlife artist was enhanced considerably by an expedition to the Yukon Territory in 1905. The artwork and social connections that resulted from that trip launched Rungius into the center of America’s conservation movement, promoted by such famous American sportsmen as President Theodore Roosevelt. In 1910 he accepted an offer to visit the Canadian Rockies. The opportunities to hunt, explore and paint the region were so appealing that in 1921 he built a summer studio called “The Paintbox” in Banff, where he worked from April to October of each year until his death in 1959.

Rungius’ ability to capture the heart-stopping chance encounter between man and animal sets him apart from many of his talented colleagues. Equally accomplished as a painter of wildlife and landscapes, Rungius quickly developed an enthusiastic following among fellow artists and patrons. The National Museum of Wildlife Art maintains the largest collection of Rungius’ work in the United States.