ROBERT SPEAR DUNNING (1829-1905)

Born in 1829, Robert Spear Dunning was raised in Fall River, Massachusetts, and studied at the National Academy of Design under Daniel Huntington. Around 1864 Dunning shifted his emphasis from portraiture to still life and was a founding member of the Fall River Evening Drawing School—an unique establishment for a small New England town. He exhibited at the National Academy of Design from 1850-1880, at the American Art Union in 1850, as well as at the Boston Art Club. Dunning’s work frequently features abundant displays of fruit, occasionally accompanied by sumptuously decorated household objects, to create compositions that carefully balance manmade luxury with the beautiful simplicity of nature. Dunning’s work in the collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C. as well as the Fall River Historical Society, Massachusetts.