Rupert Bunny

Coe Forsaythe Esq.
Mrs Phyllis Leishman, thence by descent
Christie's, Sydney, 6 October 1976, lot 325 as 'Two Ladies on a Balcony' (illus.)
Blue Boy Art Gallery, Melbourne
Private collection, Melbourne
Blue Boy Art Gallery, Melbourne
Purchased from the above in 1985

'Days and Nights in August', by Rupert Bunny, The Baillie Gallery, London, 22 April-12 May 1911, cat. 10
Exhibition of pictures by Rupert Bunny, Athenaeum Hall, Melbourne, cat. 81 (40 g.)

Mary Eagle, The art of Rupert Bunny in the Australian National Gallery, Canberra: Australian National Gallery, 1991, pp. 72, 78

UV inspection confirms there is no retouching. The work is in good stable condition with no visible defects.
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Rupert Bunny's Days and Nights in August series represents the summit and summary of his philogyny of the late 1900s. As Mary Eagle has observed, 'between 1906 and 1911 images of women – women alone or in intimate gatherings without men – comprised much of his work'¹ and in these shadowy summer nocturnes Bunny presents his wife Jeanne Morel and her fellow models as gorgeous, elegant creatures, in full possession both of their own intimate balcony-world and of the artist's (and viewer's) worshipful attention.

There is little sense of meaningful narrative or psychological relationship in these mysterious tableaux, no real action, no drama. Clad in the shimmering chiffon and lace tea-gowns of pre-World War I fashion and holding decorative fans and flowers, Bunny's women pose languidly and soulfully in summer sunshine or balmy evening, engaging in idle conversation, listening to music, or in complete emotional and intellectual repose, or suspension.

The figures in the present work are relatively alert and alive, at least in their shared and focussed attention. Yet the meteor that has attracted their interest is only a fleeting diversion, a tiny evanescent flash of light in the velvet darkness. In another context the falling star might be a reminder of mortality, a portent, perhaps a wish, but here, as with the other works in the series, reality is far from being cosmic. In Bunny's world, matter is much slower and closer, and is defined by material, sensory experience: the linear drift and flow and flounce of drapery, the chromatic harmonies of green cushion and red jacket and gold shawl amidst the snowy dresses, and the rich tonal contrast of night sky and interior light.

We are most grateful to David Thomas for his assistance in cataloguing this work.  This work is to be included in the forthcoming  catalogue raisonné being prepared by David Thomas.

1.    Mary Eagle, Rupert Bunny: an Australian in Paris, Canberra: Australian National Gallery, 1991, p. 8