Bidspirit auction | Charles Ragland Bunnell (1897-1968)

Charles Ragland Bunnell (1897-1968) - CHARLES BUNNELL (1897-1968) EX NELSON-ATKINS COLLECTION. Charles Ragland Bunnell (1897-1968) The Magician's House 1958 This major work by Charles Bunnell, the most important of the artist's work to ever appear at auction, is oil on canvas signed and dated lower right front. The title is provided by a Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art Collection label verso. It was exhibited in the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art's Eighth Mid-America Annual Exhibition in 1958, and won one of four purchase prizes out of a total of 71 entries. As the purchase prize, it entered the museum's Mid-America Annual Collection as inventory no. F58-41. The Mid-America Annual series of exhibitions were juried events through which the Nelson-Atkins museum identified and retained significant works by contemporary regional artists participating in the exhibition. This distinguished work, and the smaller preliminary artist's study that anticipated it - also in this auction - are from the collection of the nationally-recognized Kansas City collectors Jim and Virginia Moffett. Charles Bunnell was born in Kansas City, Missouri in 1897. He studied at the Broadmoor Art Academy (now the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center) and taught at the Kansas City Art Institute during the summers of 1929, '30, '40 and '41. During the depression, he won a mural commission from the Public Works of Art Project and created easel paintings for the WPA. The total hammer selling price proceeds for this lot benefit the Birger Sandzen Memorial Gallery in Lindsborg, Kansas. Overall framed size measures 49.5 x 61.25 inches. Without proof of exemption, be aware that internet sales tax applies to all Internet transactions and local sales tax may apply to local pick-up transactions. Please be aware that this lot is too large to ship by conventional carrier such as UPS, USPS or FedEx and will instead require local pick-up, delivery by a freight carrier or delivery by a blanket-wrap shipper. The cost most likely will not be low. Dimensions Overall framed size measures 49.5 x 61.25 inches. Condition Very good original untouched condition. There are no issues of relining, losses, repairs, in-painting or touch-up, as confirmed under UV light. Provenance The collection of Jim and Virginia Moffett of Kansas City, Missouri.