The Louis Bunce papers were donated by the artist's son, Jon Bunce in 1984.
Also in the Archives of American Art are two oral history interviews with Bunce, one conducted on October 29, 1965 by Dorothy Bestor and a second conducted on December 3-13, 1982 by Rachel Rosenfield, for the Archives of American Art's Northwest Oral History Project
The collection was processed to a minimal level and a finding aid prepared by Jayna Josefson in 2016, with funding provided by the Smithsonian Collections Care and Preservation Fund. The Archives of American Art has implemented minimal processing tactics when possible in order to increase information about and access to more of our collections.
Minimal processing included arrangement to the series, subseries, and folder levels. Generally, items within folders were simply verified with folder titles, but not arranged further. The collection was rehoused in archival containers and folders, but not all staples and clips were removed.
Louis Bunce papers, 1890s-1983. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Use of original papers requires an appointment. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advanced notice.
The Jazz Arts video: Authorization to publish, quote or reproduce requires written permission from KGW-TV, Portland Oregon. Interview of Wendy Wells of the Fountain Gallery: Authorization to publish, quote or reproduce requires written permission from Rogers Cablesystems of Portland, Oregon. Contact Reference Services for more information.
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Louis Bunce (1907-1983) was a painter, printmaker, and educator active in Portland, Oregon. His modernist style influenced many artists in the Pacific Northwest.
Born in Wyoming in 1907, Bunce began his art education at the Museum Art School in Portland Oregon in 1925. After two years, he moved to New York City to study at the Art Students League. During the great Depression, Bunce returned to Oregon and worked for the federal WPA Section of Painting and Sculpture. He painted murals for post offices in Portland (St. Johns neighborhood), and Grants Pass. Bunce moved back to New York in 1940, where he continued working as a WPA mural and easel painter, and befriended fellow artists Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Robert Motherwell, Franz Kline, and other American modernists.
A prominent member of the arts scene of Portland, Bunce taught at the Museum Art School (now the Pacific Northwest College of Art) from 1946 until 1972. In 1949, he and his wife Gloria opened the Kharouba Gallery, the first art gallery in Portland to show modernist, avant-garde, and experimental art. In 1958, Bunce's abstract mural for the Portland International Airport created some controversy over its modernist style. The mural can still be seen in the airport.
Bunce married twice, to Eda Hult and Gloria Scott. With Eda, he had a son, Jon Bunce. Louis Bunce died in Portland, Oregon in 1983 from an aneurysm.
The papers of Portland, Oregon painter, printmaker, and educator Louis Bunce (1907-1983) measure 9.1 linear feet and date from the 1890s to 1983. Found are biographical materials, correspondence, writings and notes, interviews and interview transcripts, organizational records, personal business records, printed materials, nine scrapbooks, eighteen sketchbooks, artwork, and photographs. A few audiovisual recordings are scattered throughout series.
Biographical materials include address and appointment books, awards, life documents, resumes, and Bunce family genealogical records. There is a video recording of Bunce's retirement party from the Portland Museum School and of Bunce hanging his artwork for a show at the Fountain Gallery.
Bunce's correspondence is with his wives, Eda and Gloria, family, friends, fellow artists, and galleries and institutions. Notable correspondents include Jackson Pollock, Pee Wee Russell, and Max Weber. Writings and notes by Bunce include a notebook containing sales information, lists of works of art, sketches, and artist's statements. There are also autobiographical sketches and a video recording of a 1961 television show hosted by Bunce entitled "The Jazz Arts" depicting Bunce painting while jazz musicians perform. There are a few writings about Bunce by others.
There are two recorded interviews and three transcripts of interviews with Bunce conducted by Rachel Griffin, Wendy Wells of the Fountain Gallery, the Oregon Historical Society, KOIN TV, and an art student.
Organizational records document Louis Bunce's association with the Portland Center for the Visual Arts and the Portland Building Public Art Selection Committee of the Metropolitan Arts Commission. Personal business records include agreements and contracts, including an agreement with Sally Judd to form a gallery, consignment records, income and sales records, price lists and inventories (see also series 3 for a notebook containing lists of artwork and sales information), and personal legal documents. Printed materials consist of bulletins, clippings, and exhibition catalogs and announcements. There is also a video recording of a broadcast of KGW-TV depicting Bunce painting an outdoor mural.
Nine mixed media scrapbooks contain sketches, notes, printed material, photographs, correspondence, project proposals, writings, notes, addresses, receipts and sales records. Many of the scrapbooks contain artwork drawn directly onto the paper while some have artwork pasted into the pages. Eighteen sketchbooks of Bunce depict abstract drawings, figures, portraits, landscapes, and street scenes in pencil, pen and watercolor. Also found is a Valentine's Day-themed flipbook by Bunce and unidentified sketches likely by John Hammack and others.
Photographs are of Bunce, Bunce's family, Bunce at events, Bunce with his art, and Bunce at work in his studio. Also found are photographs of travel, stills of footage used on KOIN-TV, works of art, and exhibitions.
The collection is arranged as 11 series.
Portions of this collection, including Jackson Pollock letters, catalog, and announcement, are available on 35 mm microfilm reel 3999 at the Archives of American Art offices and through interlibrary loan. Researchers should note that the arrangement of the material described in the container inventory does not reflect the arrangement of the collection on microfilm.
Found are three address books and loose notes, three appointment books, awards and certificates, a guest book for a 1968 exhibition, Bunce family genealogical records, resumes, identification cards, and travel documents. The appointment books also include notes on sales and loans, resume drafts, addresses, lists of works of art, and sketches. Also found is one five-minute videorecording showing Bunce's retirement party at the Portland Museum School and of Bunce hanging his show at the Fountain Gallery.
Oversized material housed in Box 13, F1
Bunce's correspondence is with family, colleagues, artists, and galleries and institutions. Correspondents include Eda Bunce, Gloria Bunce, John Hammack, John Heller Gallery, Jackson Pollock, Pee Wee Russell, Max Weber, and many others. Some letters are illustrated, including handmade birthday cards. Letters from Jackson Pollock discuss Pollock's move to The Springs on Long Island; upcoming shows; various abstract artists, including William Baziotes, Arshile Gorky, Adolph Gottlieb, Mark Rothko, and Spivak, and mentions his plans to visit Bunce in Oregon. Also, he sends an exhibition catalog
Writing and notes by Bunce include a notebook containing sales information, lists of works of art, sketches, and artist statements. There are also autobiographical essays and a 1961 video recording of "The Jazz Arts," a Frank Parr Production television show written by Ernie Hood featuring Bunce painting while "No Way Out" jazz musicians perform. There are scattered unsigned writings by others and one by Joachim Gasquet.
There are two recorded interviews and three transcripts of interviews with Louis Bunce. An audio tape contains an interview conducted on March 13, 1955 by Couch and Rachel Griffin discussing Bunce's exhibition. A forty minute interview conducted by Wendy Wells of the Fountain Gallery dates from circa 1982. Other interviews were conducted for the Oregon Historical Society, KOIN TV, and an art student named Gleason.
Found here are files regarding Bunce's involvement in the Portland Center for the Visual Arts and the Metropolitan Arts Commission, including records about the selection of the sculpture
There are agreements and contracts for commissions, publications, media releases, and the creation of a partnership with Sally Judd to form a gallery. Consignment records are mostly from Fountain Gallery. Two divorce and separation records are between Louis D. Bunce and Gloria Bunce as well as another Louis Bunce, likely the artist's father. Income and sales records documents artwork sales.
Printed materials include bulletins, clippings, exhibition announcements and catalogs, and food-related publications. There is also a thirty-second video recording of Bunce painting an outdoor mural that was produced by KGW-TV.
Oversized material housed in Box 13, F2
Nine scrapbooks contain sketches, notes, printed material, photographs, correspondence and drafts of letters, project proposal estimates, writings, notes, addresses, receipts, and sales records. Some scrapbooks may include a variety of materials while Scrapbook 8 only contains artwork. It is likely that all of the scrapbooks were compiled by Bunce and some include miniature sketches possibly used as a model for a later works of art pasted into the book while other sketches were done directly onto the paper.
Eighteen sketchbooks depict abstract drawings, figures, portraits, landscapes, and street scenes in a variety of media. Some are labeled with locations, but many are unidentified. Some sketches are miniature versions of works of art Bunce intended to create.
Portraits, pencil drawings
Boats and abstract drawings in pen and pencil
Botanical and abstract drawings in pen, crayon, pencil and colored pencil
Abstract drawings and doodles in pencil and watercolor
Heads and abstract drawings in watercolor and colored pencil
Portraits and doodles in pencil
Portraits, abstract drawings, and ships in pencil, colored pencil and watercolor
Hood River scenes in pencil
Newport, Oregon landscapes in pencil
Portland, Oregon scenes and landscapes in pen and pencil
Abstract drawings in pen, pencil, and watercolor
Abstract drawings and doodles in pencil and watercolor
Abstract drawings, portraits and landscapes in pencil, colored pencil, and pen
Abstract drawings and figures in pencil, watercolor and pen
Faces and abstract drawings in pencil and colored pencil
Abstract drawings in pencil
Landscapes and abstract drawings in pencil and watercolor
Abstract figures in watercolor and pencil
The bulk of artwork consists of sketches by Louis Bunce. Done in pencil, pen, and watercolors, sketches are of landscapes, portraits, figures, or abstract drawings. Some sketches are miniature versions of works of art Bunce intended to create. Bunce created a flipbook for Valentine's Day. Artwork by others is likely by John Hammack.
Oversized material housed in Box 13, F3 and OVs 14-15
There are personal photographs and portraits of Bunce; his wives and families; colleagues; at events; with his art, and while painting and in his studio. Other photographs are stills of footage used on KOIN-TV, jazz musicians, Bunce family portraits, and travel photos. Photographs of works of art include images of Bunce's WPA-sponsored mural at the post office of Grants Pass, Oregon. Exhibition photographs are of an opening at Kharouba Gallery opening, and shows at the Benson Museum of Modern Art, Kraushaar Galleries, and the Portland Art Museum.