Wayne County Biographies



Part of the Indiana Biographies Project



Professor John Elwood Bundy

This gentleman, known as the "artist of Earlham Place," in Richmond, possesses talent which has placed his name high among the portrait and landscape painters of this state. Nor is his fame confined to this section, as in the east his works have received special honor and favorable criticism, and many of the most celebrated of his paintings are owned by private individuals and public institutions in New England. That genius is inborn and not acquired is an axiom which finds fresh exemplification in his case, as almost in his babyhood he sought to express his artistic ideas with pencil and chalk, and perseveringly he pursued his way with one fixed ambition and goal ever before him, undaunted by the obstacles which he encountered. The parents of Mr. Bundy were John and Mary (Moore) Bundy, both natives of Guilford county, North Carolina. Some years after their marriage, in 1858, they removed to a farm in Morgan county, Indiana, and there they spent the remainder of their lives, the father dying in 1891 and the mother in 1893.

The birth of John Elwood Bundy took place in Guilford county. North Carolina, May 1, 1853, and until he was twenty-four years of age he continued to reside with his parents, assisting in the labors of the old homestead. His education was such as the district schools afforded, supplemented by private study and reading. When he was but eight years of age his drawings of familiar scenes, animals and persons possessed such merit as to receive the favorable comment of his neighbors, and he determined that art should be his life work. As the years rolled swiftly by he continued to sit at the feet of mother nature, studying her in all her varied moods, and thus laying the best possible foundations for his future career. At length he went to Indianapolis, where he received instruction from B. S. Hayes, then considered the most successful portrait painter in the state, and, subsequently, the young man studied in New York city and was allowed the privilege of copying at the Metropolitan Museum.

In 1877 Professor Bundy commenced teaching art at Martinsville, Morgan county, and for the next ten years devoted himself to his chosen vocation, doing some fine work in the meantime. Then, coming to Earlham College, he took charge of the art department, with which he was connected for eight years. In 1895 he resigned, in order to devote himself more thoroughly to painting, and because the demands upon his time had become too exacting. Since then he has not been able to fill the orders which he has received for landscape and portrait paintings. One of his best-known efforts, entitled " Early Spring," a canvas forty by sixty inches in dimensions, now hangs on the walls in Earlham College, as does also a fine portrait of Professor Morgan, painted from life. That gentleman was connected with the college for many years and was thoroughly interested in the success of the institution. In the library at West Falmouth, Massachusetts, the visitor will observe two beautiful and lifelike paintings, one "An Autumn Scene on the Whitewater," the other "A June Morning," the latter showing a flock of sheep in the foreground. The critics have specially favored these productions from the brush of Mr. Bundy, though many others of his works seem deserving of equal praise.

In 1875 he married Miss Mary A. Maslett, of Morgan county, Indiana. Their elder son, Arthur L., has apparently inherited somewhat of his father's genius, and is an art photographer, taking views of landscapes, buildings and interiors of houses, as well as domg a general photographic business. Walter E., the younger son, is a student in the local high school.

Source:
Biographical and Genealogical History of Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin Counties, Indiana, Volume 1, The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, 1899