Alfred James Munnings

Baron Kojiro Matsukata, Kobe
The 15th Bank, Japan (acquired circa 1927)
Private collects or (acquired from the above in 1930)
Thence by descent to the present owner

Tokyo Prefecture Museum, The 3rd Exhibition of the Matsukata collects ion, May 17-June 4, 1930

The Old Matsukata collects ion, Western Art, Kobe, 1990, p. 305, no 1141, illustrated

The following condition report was kindly provided by Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc.: This painting is in excellent, if not perfect condition. The canvas is still stretched on its original stretcher. The paint layer appears to be clean and has recently been varnished. The paint layer may still be slightly dirty however all of Munnings's subtle touches are clearly visible. Apart from a few light spots around the forelegs of the horse, there does not appear to be anything in need of retouching. These are not damages per se, but are noticeable nonetheless.
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Painted circa 1913.

Munnings moved from Norwich to the artist colony of Newlyn in Cornwall in 1911. " For years we had known of the famous Newlyn School [of painting] and were curious to see this country which attracted artists...Our east-west journey, taking us to the far end of Cornwall, was a complete change to an East Anglian like myself The district south-west of Norwich [where he had been living] was well-timbered. The prevailing hedgerows were oaks, their foliage partially embowering lanes and small hamlets...Many farms were set amongst oak trees and any farm of importance had as a distinguishing feature, an ancient oak standing in the middle of its home pasture... It was a great cattle-growing area; every other farm possessed its flock of sheep, and cattle filled the yards through the winter.  

"From all this rich, Norfolk farming country - the vistas of hedgerows and elms, woodlands, cornfields and low meadows – I found myself in a land of stone walls and tall, stone-faced  banks covered with wild flowers and purple foxgloves, which  seeded themselves and grew In profusion. Scrubby woods grew on hillsides, trees flourished in the valleys, and only windswept covered specimens braved the blasts upon the uplands. It was a wild and almost treeless, stone-walled country. Narrow fast running trout streams ran in the bottom of these valleys" (Sir Alfred J. Munnings, An Artist's Life, Essex, 1950, pp. 270-1).

Thus, in new painting grounds, Munnings set up all-in-one stables and studio, at Lamorna and hired a new, primitive Cornish youth "who grew into a useful combination of groom-model and posed for many a picture" (Munnings, p. 272). Inspired by events during days out hunting with the Western Foxhounds, with which he participated, Munnings has recorded a peaceful moment for horse and rider as they look for a scent. With a deep knowledge of hunting and riding, Munnings also adeptly captured the mental state of horse and rider .The huntsman has turned in the saddle, drawing back on the reins and peers into the denser part of the woods. His body twists in the saddle, so Munnings has repositioned the weight of his seat onto the left hip while his right leg slides forward of the girth. The lovely fit dappled grey horse, with ears pricked, walks forward with a deliberate stride, perhaps eager to join other horses.

As is typical of  this period onwards, Munnings has combined the very summary and fluidly handled background foliage with a more refined and representative style depicting the main subject.  Using Impressionist theory of light and color, Munnings has used a very select palette so that the horse blends convincingly into the background.  The vibrancy of the huntsman's coat enlivens the canvas as it stands out against the softness of the other colors.

Munnings specifically chose a grey horse which he had recently purchased in Ireland, as his model and " using Red House Moor and the adjoining Trevelloe Woods as a painting ground, I began a series of pictures.. It was a new sight to see a scarlet-coated whip sitting on a dappled grey in the fir-wood, the ground carpeted with red pine needles..." (Munnings, p. 284).

This work is closely related to The Whip: Trevelloe Wood, Cornwall which Munnings exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1925 (no.103) and Trevelloe Wood, Cornwall (the Bunting collects ion, London) exhibited at the Norwich Castle Museum, 1928 (no.175).

This painting was originally in the renowned Matsukata collects ion in Japan, and how it came to be there is a very interesting story.  Kojiro Matsukata (1865-1950) was a successful Japanese businessman, who used his personal fortune to collects European art for the purpose of exposing Western art to Japanese artists.  The Matsukata collects ion included major works by Rodin, Monet, Courbet, Van Gogh and Cézanne; and in fact Matsukata became a close friend of Claude Monet.   During a trip to England, Matsukata also met the British painter, Frank Brangwyn (1867-1956); he was most likely introduced to Brangwyn by Yuji Okada, the manager of the London branch of the Yamanaka Shokai, a large art and antiques company.  Brangwyn eventually became Matukata's most important art advisor and patron.  There were even discussions about transferring Brangwyn's studio to Japan to introduce Western art to the Japanese people; a plan that never was realized due to the Great Kantō Earthquake in 1923.   Certainly, Frank Brangwyn knew and admired Alfred Munnings and he no doubt encouraged Matsukata to add works by Munnings to his collects ion.