Lucinda Weil Bunnen

Lucinda Weil Bunnen was born on January 14, 1930 in Katonah, Westchester County, New York. She lived a truly remarkable life and died on March 27, 2022, in Atlanta GA, surrounded by her devoted family, friends, and caregivers.

Lucinda is survived by her three children: son, Robert L Bunnen Jr of Atlanta and Chevy Chase MD, and his three children, Lizzie Bunnen Pack (Cameron), Alison Bunnen Pence (Cem), and Philip Weil Bunnen; daughter Belinda Bunnen Reusch (Ken), and their three children, Kendrick Nelson Reusch Jr (d.2013), Melanie Reusch Thompson (Ben); and Sarah Lucinda Reusch; and daughter Melissa Bunnen Jernigan (James) and their children, Jack Louis Jernigan and Lindy Bunnen Jernigan; and a great-granddaughter Lucinda “Lulu” Thompson. Lucinda was married for 60 years to Dr. Robert L Bunnen (d.2012).

Lucinda was born and raised on her family’s farm in Katonah, NY. She loved milking the cows, riding the horses, and working the land. A gifted athlete, Lucinda attended Centenary Junior College in New Jersey and then studied in Switzerland, where she participated with the USA Olympic team downhill and giant slalom trials. Upon her return to the US, she moved to New York City, and settled in the famed Barbizon apartments.

In 1950, during a visit to Atlanta with her sister Phoebe Weil Franklin, then married and living in Atlanta, she met Robert L Bunnen (Bobby) at a dinner party. Lucinda and Bobby fell in love and married in 1952 on her family’s property. The couple moved to Boston MA where Bobby attended Tufts’ Medical School. Son and daughter, Robb and Belinda, were born in Boston. In 1956, the family moved first to Pensacola, FL and then to Atlanta, where Bobby became Atlanta’s eighth oral surgeon. Their third child, Melissa, was born in Atlanta. Randall Mill Road became the Bunnen family home in 1959 and remained so for 63 years. While raising three children, Lucinda threw herself into Atlanta’s newly burgeoning art, tennis and steeplechase worlds. She chaired the Piedmont Arts Festival, co-founded photography gallery NEXUS, organized the Shakerag Hunt galas, rode the winning anchor leg in the largest steeplechase purse race, and won numerous mixed doubles tennis championships with Bobby, among many other activities.

In 1970, for her fortieth Birthday, Lucinda convinced her entire extended family to travel to Lima, Cuzco, Machu Picchu, and Iquitos in Peru. During that trip, she made a silent Super-8 family home movie, which launched her prolific and successful career as a fine art photographer. Soon after, she attended a photography class at the Atlanta College of Art and a practice workshop in New Haven CT with the famous photographer Minor White. In the early 1970s, during visits to her ailing mother in New York City, Lucinda began to purchase photography from the Lee Witkin Gallery, located around the corner from her mother’s apartment. She collected works by Ansel Adams, Minor White, Edward Weston, Jerry Uelsmann, and many others. Ultimately, convinced that photography was in fact an art form, Lucinda persuaded Atlanta’s High Museum of Art to initiate a photography collection. To make that pledge a reality, in the 1970s and 1980s, she donated almost 1,000 photographs, which became the genesis of the High’s collection, and now encompasses more than 6000 photographs.

Lucinda published eight books of her own photographic works, including Movers and Shakers in Georgia, Scoring in Heaven, Alaska, Gravestones and Cemetery Art in the American Sunbelt States, Humbled (Haiti), Constant Impermanence, and finally, the award-winning Gathered. Her work was exhibited in numerous one-woman and group shows; she also juried and curated many photography exhibits and contests and won prestigious awards from the City of Atlanta, NEXUS, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Georgia, among others. Bunnen’s own photographs are in the collections of the many museums and galleries, including the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museums (NYC), the Pushkin Museum (Moscow), and the Smithsonian Museum’s National Portrait Gallery (DC). Lucinda’s legacy and archives will be held at the Stuart A Rose Manuscript, Archives and Rare Book Library at Emory University for research and scholarship.

Aside from her many pursuits, her greatest delights were her family, especially their multi-generational, summer beach vacations to Debordieu, SC, and Thanksgiving gatherings; hiking with her beloved dogs; and developing deep relationships with numerous friends. And for each of those, she always had a camera in hand.

The Bunnen Family will host a Celebration of Lucinda’s Life on Saturday April 2, 2022 at 11am – 1pm at the Atlanta Contemporary located at 535 Means Street, Atlanta, GA. Please feel free to bring photos, mementos and other items reflecting your love for Lucinda. Dress is very casual. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the High Museum of Art, the Hambidge Center, Atlanta Contemporary, or Museum of Contemporary Art in Georgia (MOCA GA).

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.hmpattersonOglethorpe.com for the Bunnen family.