One of the major American painters of the late 19th century,[1] and a friend of many prominent artists of the era, Bunker died from meningitis at the age of 29.

In the spring of 1883, accompanied by fellow students Charles A. Platt and Kenneth R. Cranford, Bunker left Paris to travel through the French countryside and the coast of Normandy, returning to continue his studies in mid-October.

In October of that year, at the recommendation of James Carroll Beckwith, he moved to Boston to teach at the Cowles Art School, where he was the chief instructor of figure and cast drawing, artistic anatomy, and composition.

[2] While meager finances prevented him from staying in Boston during the summer, let alone traveling to Europe, Bunker did accept an invitation from Abbott Handerson Thayer to join him and paint in South Woodstock, Connecticut in 1886.

Bunker painted portraits during the winter of 1887, and spent the summer in Newburyport, Massachusetts with artist friends; including Henry Oliver Walker.

In 1888 Bunker undertook a number of portrait commissions of important Bostonians, including members of the Gardner family, Samuel Endicott Peabody, and J. Montgomery Sears.

Bunker spent the summer in England, where he joined Sargent and his family in Calcot, painting during the day and playing tennis in the evening.

Returning to Boston to celebrate Christmas with the Hardy family, Bunker fell ill. On December 28 he died of heart failure, probably caused by cerebro-spinal meningitis.

[5] However, once back in Boston the experience came to fruition, for over the next two years Bunker produced a series of canvases which evidenced that he was one of the first American artists to fully understand and successfully practice impressionism.

His teachings influenced a number of painters (upon his resignation from the Cowles school, his students wrote a letter of appreciation, urging him to reconsider),[8] among whom were William McGregor Paxton and Lilla Cabot Perry.

It was a student of Paxton's named R. H. Ives Gammell who did the most to maintain Bunker's reputation, organizing two exhibitions at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in the 1940s, and publishing a biography in 1953.

The current revival of interest in his work is the result of a less programmatic reassessment of 19th century art: Thus, depending upon the viewpoint of the writer, Bunker can be seen as either a traditionalist or an innovator.