2023 Coeur d’Alene Art Auction / Lot 142
At the Deadwater will be included in the forthcoming online Carl Rungius Catalogue Raisonné directed by Dr. Adam Duncan Harris (an independent project of the National Museum of Wildlife Art).
Early in 1903, Rungius was helped by Dr. William Hornaday, a friend and then director of the Bronx Zoo. Hornaday was asked by Charles Shelton about the wildlife paintings that adorned his office walls. Since Shelton was planning an expedition to the Yukon, Hornaday was only too happy to introduce Rungius who could provide his knowledge of hunting along with paintings of the wildlife they encountered. Shelton later wrote about their journey in The Wilderness of the Upper Yukon and noted, “Carl Rungius … used every opportunity to study his art. He made numerous color sketches of the game country besides accurate drawings of the animals.… He has since produced many realistic paintings of moose, caribou, bears and sheep revealing them in their true environment.” Rungius’ career was off and running.
LITERATURE
Catalogue of Copyright Entries, Part 4: Engravings, Cuts and Prints; Chromos and Lithographs; Photographs; Fine Arts, vol. 3, nos. 1-53, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., 1908, p. 178, listed