Alfred James Munning - Willows near Langham Pool

Price Realized
£16,250
($25,106)

signed 'A. J. Munnings' (lower right) and inscribed 'Willows/near Langham/Pool/A.J.M.' (on the reverse).
oil on canvas laid down on board
20 x 24 in. (50.8 x 60.9 cm.)

Munnings held a particularly strong affection for Langham on the Suffolk/Essex border, an idyllic spot which he described in his autobiography, 'To use the word Arcadia here is not affectation. No other word could describe Langham Mill, its lock, bridge, mill-pool, floodgates and trees... From 1919 to 1935 I used to paint there, bathe there, row there in a boat, walk there, and ride there'
(see A.J. Munnings, An Artist's Life, Bungay, 1950, p. 120).
http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/sir-alfred-james-munnings-pra-rws-willows/5521082/lot/lot_details.aspx?from=salesummary&pos=6&intObjectID=5521082&sid=9954c15e-eda4-4842-adcb-7417973762cc&page=3

Alfred James Munning - Knight Riding by a Lake

Alfred James Munning - 'Dear Cheena', a Bay Hunter 1943

Alfred James Munning - Trees by a Field

Alfred James Munning - Exmoor with Gorse

Alfred James Munning - The Stour at Dedham with Barges

Alfred James Munning - A Sheepdog at Withypool, Exmoor 1943

Alfred James Munning - The Friesian Bull 1920 (reworked 1920 - 47)

http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/picture-of-month/displaypicture.asp?venue=7&id=243

Alfred James Munning - The Friesian Bull 1920 (reworked 1920 - 47)

http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/picture-of-month/displaypicture.asp?venue=7&id=243

Alfred James Munning - A pony and donkeys

Price Realized £61,250

signed 'A.J.Munnings/1904' (lower left)
oil on canvas
20 x 24 in. (51 x 61 cm.)

The present composition bears comparison with two other paintings of the same date: one entitled Donkeys on Crostwick Common (Anon sale; Christies London, 12 June 1986, lot 183) and the other entitled Crostwick Common (Castle Museum, Norwich).

Munnings reminisces: 'Then came the open Common. There were the donkeys, young and old, a coloured cow or two, a white horse peacefully standing on a knoll - the wind stirring its tail - and geese and ponies. What a Common! ... calm, grey autumn days followed in succession in that particular year; days with soft "barred clouds" stretching across the sky. I see the bramble patches, the dark clumps of gorse and purple torns and yellow bracken, the donkeys with their white muzzles, feeding, and the geese far away near the stream at the end. Here I was in my twenties, with everything around me to paint' (see A.J. Munnings, An Artist's Life, Bungay, 1950, p. 204-5).

We are grateful to Lorian Peralta Ramos for her help in preparing this catalogue entry. The picture will be included in her forthcoming Catalogue Raisonné of the work of Sir Alfred Munnings.

Alfred James Munning - A pony and donkeys

Price Realized £61,250

signed 'A.J.Munnings/1904' (lower left)
oil on canvas
20 x 24 in. (51 x 61 cm.)

The present composition bears comparison with two other paintings of the same date: one entitled Donkeys on Crostwick Common (Anon sale; Christies London, 12 June 1986, lot 183) and the other entitled Crostwick Common (Castle Museum, Norwich).

Munnings reminisces: 'Then came the open Common. There were the donkeys, young and old, a coloured cow or two, a white horse peacefully standing on a knoll - the wind stirring its tail - and geese and ponies. What a Common! ... calm, grey autumn days followed in succession in that particular year; days with soft "barred clouds" stretching across the sky. I see the bramble patches, the dark clumps of gorse and purple torns and yellow bracken, the donkeys with their white muzzles, feeding, and the geese far away near the stream at the end. Here I was in my twenties, with everything around me to paint' (see A.J. Munnings, An Artist's Life, Bungay, 1950, p. 204-5).

We are grateful to Lorian Peralta Ramos for her help in preparing this catalogue entry. The picture will be included in her forthcoming Catalogue Raisonné of the work of Sir Alfred Munnings.