Sir Alfred James Munnings, PRA, RWS

(British, 1878-1959)

Washing a Cut

Footnotes

Provenance
Connell Gallery, Glasgow.
Robert Muir Glen Collection (acquired from the above).
Thence by direct descent.
Sale, Bonhams, London, 29 June 2011, lot 43.
Private collection, UK (acquired from the above sale).

Exhibited
London, Leicester Galleries, Exhibition of Pictures of "Horses, Hunting, And Country Life", By A. J. Munnings, March 1913, no. 29.

Munnings's work of 1912 and 1913 often depicts hunting subjects, such as Hunting Morning (The Munnings Art Museum, Dedham) and Going to the Meet (Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle). The exact setting of the present lot is unknown: after Munnings married Florence in January 1912, he travelled between Cornwall, Mendham, Norwich and London. Munnings had his bay hunter mare sent from Norfolk to Cornwall, just before he spent approximately five weeks in Zennor with Ned Osborne, and he was also using his horse Grey Tick as a model.

It has been suggested that the figure on the right is a self-portrait, similarly identified in Munnings work entitled Lamorna Inn (The Munnings Art Museum), where he has painted himself in the doorway of a pub (fig 1).

A contemporary review of the 1913 exhibition Horses, Hunting and Country Life at the Leicester Galleries London, mentions Washing a Cut in a favourable light 'No. 29 Washing a Cut shows a bay horse against a brown background of stable buildings. This might very easily have been drab and dull, but Mr. Munnings has brought into it that atmosphere of light which characterises all his work'.

The present lot was acquired from the Connell Gallery in Glasgow by Robert Muir Glen, the son of John Glen, who purchased The Glengowan (Textile) Print Works in 1877, eight years after it was founded. The company specialised in printing both calico and silk materials, and a nearby village of Glengowan swelled in size, due the housing he provided for his workers.

We are grateful to the Curatorial staff at The Munnings Art Museum for their help in preparing this catalogue entry.

This work will be included in Lorian Peralta-Ramos's forthcoming book Tradition and Modernity: the works of Sir Alfred Munnings.