Meadowlark Gallery: The Artist Biographies

Carl Rungius (1869-1959)
Carl Clemens Moritz Rungius was born in Berlin, Germany in 1869 and died in New York City in 1959. He specialized in the painting of western American big game subjects, a classic illustrator, and etcher. Carl Rungius was educated at the gymnasium Burg bef Magdeburg und Glessen. He studied at the Berlin Art School, School of Applied Arts, the Academy of Fine Arts, and a pupil of Paul Meyerheim. Rungius began painting in Berlin in 1889. When he emigrated to the United States in 1894, he established his studio in New York City. The summer home and studio of Carl Rungius was in Banff, Alberta, Canada. The first sketching trip was to Wyoming and Yellowstone Park in 1895. Rungius traveled from Arizona to Alaska, hunting, sketching, and painting. He specialized in big game including moose, caribou, bear, mountain sheep, mountain goat, deer, and antelope. He also painted the cowboys he met, while leaving to others the Indians and Pueblos. His work is today a valuable record of the animals and their environment at the time. He painted directly from nature. The Glenbow Foundation in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, maintains his studio as a museum.
View high resolution images of works by Carl Rungius when available.