Stuart Dunkel
About Stuart Dunkel
Stuart Dunkel is a Boston-based a painter who is well regarded for his realist technique in oil on small panels on which he portays finely rendered mice as herioc figures within classical still‑life settings with great whimsicality and gentle humor. He hopes his work allows the viewer to discover a sense of joy, optimism, and playfulness, as well as a sense of classical balance and beauty. Drawing on 17th‑century Dutch masters and wielding darkly luminous backgrounds, he crafts scenes that, he explains, “are autobiographical. They reflect and explore issues in my life.”
Working primarily in oil on small‑scale panels, Dunkel became best known for his “mouse series”: a recurring motif of an over‑sized or hyper‑real mouse interacting with a still life object. The idea began almost humorously—he recalled that “one day I had this still life painting and … I told my wife, ‘This is Chuckie… he’s the one who makes the mess, not me.’” The mouse motif offered Dunkel a way to channel his mischievous self, embed narrative play into objects, and explore serious compositional structures under the guise of lighthearted imagery.
Stylistically, Dunkel draws on the great Dutch still‑life traditions of the 17th century—he cites influences such as Willem Kalf, Jan De Heem, Hidde Heda and Pieter Claesz. Dunkel often works with dark back‑grounds, stating that “I usually enjoy the darkest of backgrounds in my still life paintings as it affords the eye the most comfortable place to perceive reality at its beginning.”
Stuart Dunkel was born in 1952 in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, and now lives and works in Boston. From his earliest years he was immersed in creative disciplines: as he notes, “I began painting at age five and at age seven I began studying music.” He pursued formal training both in music and visual art—studying oboe at institutions such as The Juilliard School and art at the Boston Museum School and the Seattle Academy of Realist Art—before shifting his primary focus to painting in the mid‑1990s.
Dunkel’s early career as a professional oboist—performing in orchestras in Boston, New York and Hong Kong—provided the deep discipline and structural sensibility that he later carried into his painting. In his words, “My breakthrough moment in art was when it was revealed to me that music and art were made up of the same ideas. … Rhythm, harmony, counterpoint, balance, contrast.”
Dunkel's work continues to be collected by institutions and individuals alike. His commitment remains toward beauty and curiosity: “My life has been dedicated to the pursuit of beauty. It is an exciting, never‑ending challenge with prismatic possibilities.”
In recent years Dunkel has expanded both his teaching and studio practice. He is the director and instructor at the Nautilus School of Realist Art in Watertown, Massachusetts, and regularly conducts workshops, publishes books and pursues multiple creative ventures.
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