Active primarily in the first half of the 20th century, he earned a reputation as the most important big game painter and the first career wildlife artist in North America.

His family had interests in art, nature, and taxidermy, and from an early age, Rungius enjoyed hunting and knew he wanted to be a wildlife painter.

In his teenage years, an exhibition by Richard Friese, Germany’s foremost wildlife artist, reinforced Rungius’s ambition.

Eventually his father did relent, but only on the condition that Carl would start his profession in an acceptable fashion, by learning the trade of a house painter.

After hunting and painting trips to New Brunswick in 1900-1909 and to the Yukon in 1904, Rugius’s fascination with the North American moose began.

Rungius found work, as hunters and naturalists commissioned wildlife illustrations for their magazines, books, and campaigns to protect endangered animals.

[3] Rungius’s arrival in the United States coincided with the recognition of the plight of the continent’s game animal and bird populations.

His illustrations, however, stayed in circulation long after, playing a large role in spreading information about ethical hunting.

In early twentieth-century North America, there were few major zoos and photography was still in its infancy, so illustrations from books and periodicals were the public's main source of information concerning wildlife.

Easy to reach and a cosmopolitan, broad-minded town right in the wilderness, at the same time offering all the comforts of a big city.

This huge collection of 1,404 items makes Glenbow Museum the premier research centre in the world for Rungius scholars.

Rungius had his ashes scattered on Tunnel Mountain in Banff, Alberta, loving the view overlooking the town and the Bow Valley.