George (Georg) Bunzl was born into a wealthy Jewish family, owner of paper manufacturing company Bunzl & Biach AG, in Vienna, Austria-Hungary (now Austria) in 1895. Following the Anschluss, the family immigrated to England in 1938, where they set up Tissue Papers Limited; Bunzl entered English photographic circles only in 1951, when he retired from the presidency of the company. Elected an Associate of the Royal Photographic Society (RPS) in 1952 and a Fellow in 1956, he became best known for his photographic portraits of indigenous peoples of Latin America taken on trips to South America between 1962–72.
Businessman and photographer George (Georg) Bunzl was born in Vienna, Austria-Hungary (now Austria) in 1895 into a wealthy Jewish family. His father, Max Bunzl, and his uncles, Ludwig and Julius, were the owners of the paper manufacturing company Bunzl & Biach AG. Bunzl spent a happy childhood, in which he loved skiing and going to the mountains. These activities would later inspire his photographic work, particularly his predilection for capturing snow scenes. He became interested in photography as a child and when he was10 years old he received a Brownie box camera. However, his work in the family company would prevent him from pursuing this hobby full time until much later in life.
Following the Anschluss (annexation of Austria to Nazi Germany) in March 1938, the family was forced to relinquish control of the company and immigrated to England later the same year, where Bunzl and his brothers, Martin and Hugo, set up Tissue Papers Limited. During the Second World War, the Bunzl family facilitated the migration of around 40 Austrian Jews to England. Among them was shipping engineer Wilhelm Hollitscher, whose portrait by artist Hugo Dachinger, made while the two were interned in Huyton Camp outside Liverpool, is now part of the Ben Uri Collection. The names of George Bunzl and his wife, the Czech-born sculptor Trude Bunzl (née Schechner) are included in the ‘list of internees at liberty in the UK’ published by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, suggesting that they were probably officially designated by tribunal as ‘enemy aliens’, but were eventually granted exemption from internment. Bunzl and his wife both became naturalised British citizens in 1947. After the war, the Bunzl family was able to reclaim its assets in Austria. The company’s products were sold through London and distributed worldwide, laying the foundations of what was to become Bunzl plc, the international pulp and paper trading business.
Bunzl entered England’s amateur photographic circles in 1951, when he was semi-retired from the presidency of the company, and he had the time and financial independence that enabled him to pursue his interests in photography. Making rapid strides, he joined the Richmond and Twickenham Photographic Society in 1951, became an Associate of the Royal Photographic Society (RPS) in 1952 and a Fellow in 1956. He initially focussed on landscape and street scenes in which people were only of secondary importance. Between 1962 and 1972 Bunzl travelled to Mexico, Peru, Ecuador and Guatemala, during which time he photographed indigenous people in their natural surroundings, wearing traditional clothing and living a traditional lifestyle. These images revealed Bunzl’s powerful sense of drama and his deep understanding of formal design and composition. In 1967 he presented a solo exhibition at the RPS Galleries in Princes Gate, London. The show included photographs of Mediterranean scenes and snowscapes. The latter, ‘remarkable for their suggestion of depth and their plastic and tactile qualities’ (Williams 1968, p. 3) were characterised, in the words of the President of the RPS, Dr. G. W. G. Maclennan, who opened the exhibition, by ‘perfect’ composition and ‘superb’ technique (RPS Journal 1968, p. 2). Half of the show was devoted to portraits of Indians of Mexico, Guatemala, Ecuador, and Peru, a selection from over 100 that Bunzl had recently published in book form under the title The Face of the Sun Kingdoms (Fountain Press, 1966).
In 1970 Bunzl was presented with a plaque by Richmond and Twickenham Photographic Society after he was elected an honorary member in tribute to his services to the organisation. On this occasion, he was also awarded the Long Cup for his work in the advanced sections of the annual competitions. Bunzl was also part of the Kon-Tiki Group, consisting of 20 amateur and professional photographers based in Greater London, who met monthly to show each other their latest work and to discuss photography in general. The Group also held regular exhibitions, which were usually on a given theme, such as ‘Line and Form’, ‘Woman’ and ‘London Seen’. In 1970 Bunzl participated in the Group’s exhibition held at the newly opened Jacey Galleries in London's Oxford Street. Peter Stone (art critic of the Jewish Chronicle) noted in The Royal Photographic Society Journal: ‘Another artist [...] who commands enormous respect is George Bunzl (Fellow). As photogenic subjects his Indians in Peru are a gift and he has accepted the gift with humility, putting all his craftsmanship at its service and identifying himself with it. In the hands of such a man, this is where the camera can beat the brush.’ (Stone 1970, pp. 269-270).
Bunzl exhibited many times at the London Salon, including in 1970, when his Afghan Boy with Apples displayed ‘straightforward, sensitive rich colour perfection’ (Fry 1970, p. 357). He was a regular exhibitor with the RPS, and the year before he died his photograph Autumn Mood, depicting back-lit silver birches, was featured in its Pictorial Group Exhibition. George Bunzl died in London, England in 1976. In 1978 his wife donated the entire collection of 468 photographs, taken on Bunzl's trips across the world, to the University of New Mexico Art Museum, Albuquerque, NM, USA, which mounted an exhibition in 1982. There are no public institutions in England currently holding works by Bunzl.
Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [George Bunzl]
Publications related to [George Bunzl] in the Ben Uri Library