Robert Spear Dunning was a co-founder and leader of the Fall River School of still life painting. As a boy he was employed in a Fall River mill. Later he worked in coastal shipping while studying art. In 1859 he joined with John E. Grouard to form the firm of Grouard & Dunning, artists.
About 1865 he began to focus on still life paintings, although he also made frequent trips to New Hampshire to paint landscapes. In 1870 he founded the Fall River Evening Drawing School. Bright colors and detail characterize his style. His addresses included: New York City, Fall River, MA, and Westport Harbor, MA.
Dunning studied with James Roberts in Thomaston, ME and Daniel Huntington at the National Academy of Design. He exhibited at the National Academy of Design (1850, 1851, and 1880), the American Art-Union (1850), the Boston Art Club (1880), and the Providence Art Club.
After an illness lasting a few months, Robert Spear Dunning died on August 12, 1905. His funeral was held at his Westport Harbor summer home on the corner of North Main and Maple Streets, and conducted by Reverend Martin of the Pearl Street Presbyterian Church. His remains were brought to the Oak Grove Cemetery, Fall River, MA. He left behind a wife and brother.
Dunning’s works have been preserved in the collections of the National Museum of American Art, the Fall River Historical Society, the Fall River Public Library, and the Swansea, MA Town Hall.
Obituary From Boston Evening Transcript
Boston, MA / Monday, August 14, 1905 / Page 11 / Robert S. Dunning, Painter
Mr. Robert S. Dunning, a well-known painter of fruit pictures, died Saturday night at his summer home at Westport Harbor. Mr. Dunning was also a painter of portraits. His pictures have been repeatedly exhibited at the National Academy of Design in New York and at the Boston Art Club. Among his best is a full length portrait of Washington, now in the B.M.C. Durfee High School, Fall River. It was copied from Stewart’s portrait, which hung in the old State House at Newport, RI.
Mr. Dunning was born Jan. 3, 1829, at Brunswick, ME. He was educated in the Fall River schools and first worked in the cotton mills and afterward for three years on various coasting vessels. He then took up the study of art. He first studied with James Roberts at Thomaston, ME, then went to New York to become a pupil of Daniel Huntington, president of the National Academy of Design. He returned to Fall River in 1853 and opened a studio and had been there ever since. He was a life member of the antique school of the National Academy of Design.
Image of Robert Spear Dunning
Robert Spear Dunning (1828-1905)
References
Great-grandnephew, John R. Dunning
Independent research by the authors
Who Was Who in American Art