Carl Clemens Moritz Rungius (1869-1959)
The Intruder
signed 'C. Rungius -.' (lower right) and signed again and titled (on the stretcher bar)
oil on canvas
30 1/4 x 40 in.
framed 35 x 45 in.
Footnotes:
Provenance
Babcock Galleries, New York, New York, no. 2590.
Private collection, Santa Monica, California.
By family descent.

Carl Rungius is celebrated for his specialized artistic focus on large North American mammals. Known for his 'dedication to careful observation and field sketching', Rungius was an intrepid chronicler of animals in their natural habitats, such as the present landscape with caribou, The Intruder. 1 'His paintings can be admired for their realistic representation of wildlife and nature; for their dynamic composition, colorful palette, and impressionist sensibility; or for their distinct evocation of the wilderness ideal.' 2

Born in Berlin, Germany in 1869, Carl Rungius took a serious interest in drawing, the outdoors, and animals at an early age. 'I had the good fortune to have a single-track mind, so I was a very poor scholar in general, being interested only in drawing, zoology, collecting butterflies and similar pursuits. Nature is still the best teacher and I paint it as I feel it.' 3

Rungius trained at a number of schools in Berlin and served a brief stint in the Prussian Army, then came to America through an invitation from his uncle to go on a moose hunting trip in 1894. Rungius stayed in America, returning to Germany only briefly. By 1897 he was settled on Long Island, New York. He maintained a study there until 1910, but he was gone most summers hunting and drawing, primarily in New Brunswick and Wyoming. With America's interest in wildlife, and the burgeoning conservationist movement, Rungius found ready employment as an illustrator. By 1910 Rungius was inspired to move his studio to a more central location in New York City.

Rungius was elected to the National Academy of Design as an associate member in 1913 and gained full membership in 1920. He also spent a great deal of time in Banff in Alberta, Canada, where he built a studio in 1922, affectionately called The Paintbox. Rungius was a member of two conservationist groups: The Campfire Club of America and the exclusive Boone and Crockett Club. There he made and maintained connections with wealthy like-minded men such as Theodore Roosevelt.

Carl Rungius and his European peers, Wilhelm Kuhnert, Richard Friese and Bruno Liljefors, were considered the Big Four artists focused on 'environmentally conscious paintings of wildlife in natural habitats.' 4 These powerhouse wildlife artists singlehandedly '[u]shered in a new era of wildlife art, reflecting a shared vision of the importance of wildlife and habitat.' 5

Caribou and their elk cousins were frequent subjects for the artist. 'Elk remained his prime interest in Wyoming. Knowing that the red deer of Germany was considered the noblest game, his choice of the elk – the handsomest member of the North American deer family – for his principal interest, both in hunting and painting, shows the extent to which he remained a European in sensibility.' 6

Rungius' facility and fidelity to the authentic natural environment of the caribou herd depicted in The Intruder, reflects the more confident, mature style the artist had achieved by his 40s. A notable use of broader brush and a sophisticated and naturalistic palette of sunlight and shadows, with punches of bold hues, can be seen in the present work. The richly textured landscape of foreground browns and yellows give way to purple and pink sunrise (or sunset) tones reflected off the distant hills. In the middle ground, a group of six grazing caribou, a bull and six cows, stand nestled amongst the low scrub brush, before a line of evergreen trees. Their alert, erect postures reflect palpable tension as a foreground newcomer bull takes an aggressive head-down stance toward his male counterpart.

Rungius' position as one of North America's most celebrated and respected painters of wildlife is on full display in The Intruder. His meticulous knowledge of animal anatomy honed by compiling nearly two thousand oil and pencil sketches over the course of his career is evident in the bull's gesture, musculature, and exacting depiction of the large and impressive antlers.

1 Adam Duncan Harris, Wildlife in American Art: Masterworks from the National Museum of Wildlife Art, University of Oklahoma Press, 2009, p. 153.
2 Harris, p. 161.
3 Douglas, Allen, Majesty and Wilderness: Works by Carl Rungius, Center for the Western Art at the Rockwell Museum, Corning, New York, p. 5.
4 Harris, p. 152.
5 Ibid, p. 154.
6 Jon Whyte and E.J. Hart, Carl Rungius: Painter of the Western Wilderness, The Glenbow-Alberta Institute, 1986, p. 36.

The painting is unlined and retains the original stretcher bars. Very minor, stable scattered craquelure. Under UV light examination, no evidence of retouch.

In a gilt over red clay bole and gesso carved frame.