David Bumbeck

David Bumbeck

American, born 1940

B.F.A. Rhode Island School of Design

M.F.A. Syracuse University

Instructor in Fine Arts, Middlebury College, 1968

Artist in Residence with rank of Assistant Professor, 1970

Director of the Christian A. Johnson Memorial Gallery, 1973–85

Assistant Professor of Art, 1976

Associate Professor of Art, 1977

Professor of Art, 1982–present

Christian A. Johnson Chair in Art, 1990–93

Section Head, Studio Art, 1991–95

Director, Program in Studio Art, 1997–98

Member, National Academy of Design, New York

Selected Collections

Boston Public Library, Wiggin Collection

Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York

Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh

Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse

Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire

Library of Congress, Washington, D. C.

Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Middlebury College Museum of Art

National Academy of Design, New York

New York Public Library Print Room

Rhode Island School of Design Museum of Art, Providence

Inspired by the human figure, particularly its representation in the classical tradition, David Bumbeck has been a collector of styles and subjects in earlier art, much as he has collected objects from the past. Quoting de Chirico, Ingres, unknown Roman sculptors, Renaissance printmakers, Elie Nadelman, and Gaston Lachaise, among many other artists, he has carried on a love affair with art history, and he has communicated this passion to generations of Middlebury students. In the past ten years his enthusiasm for the metal plate has blossomed into three dimensions, and he has amassed a distinguished body of bronze sculpture. The prints selected for this exhibition provide an overview of Bumbeck’s characteristically vivid imagery and an indication of his mastery of printmaking techniques, but they give barely a hint of his overwhelming dedication to his work and the intense pleasures that animate his visions.

–Emmie Donadio, 2000