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Lot Essay
The lure of painting in the open air captured Munnings's artistic sensibilities early in his career, but his exposure to the Newlyn School, in which plein air philosophy was at its core, led Munnings to divert from horse subjects to scenes such as this one. Munnings left his native East Anglian painting grounds for Cornwall in late summer 1911 and eventually settled in the Lamorna Valley, six miles from the picturesque fishing village of Newlyn, until after the war. Situated on the south coast of Cornwall, the area is one of outstanding natural beauty with a particularly sparkling light created by the damp coastal atmosphere. It was this light, like that of the Brittany coast, which attracted numerous artists.
Munnings wrote of his first impression of the Cornish coast, 'such scenery was entirely new, and even more so, the sight and sound of the band of white, moving surf, six hundred feet below, at the foot of steep-pinnacled granite cliffs, which on some great headland stood like castles above the restless surging of the Atlantic ground-swell. No words can describe these scenic effects. On an August or September day, to lie on the sweet-smelling turf, watching sea-pinks trembling in light winds, and listening to the unceasing sound of the surf and cry of gulls, gives peace and rest to body and soul. Nothing quite like this coast exists anywhere. There were spots where I could laze and be idle and drowsy enough in Norfolk, but of all places, on the right day, I find myself more often longing to be back on those Cornish Cliffs, lying in the sun, listening to the incessant sound of the surf' (A.J. Munnings, An Artist's Life, Bungay, 1950, p. 271).
The quiet valley opens on to the cove depicted in the present work. Steep rock cliffs on either side of the mouth of the valley, glimpsed to the right in the present work, envelop the boulder-strewn cove. The cove became the setting for numerous scenes: Lamorna and Sketching at Lamorna (see A.J. Munnings, Pictures of Horses and English Life, London, 1939, p. 81, no. 37 and no. 39.), Phyllis Crocker at Lamorna (Sir Alfred Munnings Art Museum, Castle House, Dedham) and A Girl Seated, Lamorna Cove (Christie's, London, 6 March 1986, lot 174) and two watercolours of the subject were exhibited in the 1985 Barbican Art Gallery exhibition Painting in Newlyn 1880-1930, no. 170 and no. 171.
Dame Laura Knight, among many other artists, used the same setting for her painting Daughters of the Sun, 1911, exhibited at the Royal Academy, 1911, no. 329, fig. 1. Other Lamorna paintings by Laura Knight are On the Rocks at Lamorna, fig. 2, and The Beach, fig. 3.
Lamorna Cove is consistent with the Newlyn School philosophy and teaching for plein air painting, whereby reflective colour and light achieve overall unity throughout the composition. Munnings used a square brush for much of the canvas, a technique also consistent with the Newlyn ethos. Caroline Fox comments on the ethos which, 'concentrated description upon "tone and value". Outlines were blurred. The effect and purpose was to suggest a kind of atmospheric envelope ... atmosphere is as much a part of the picture as the mere actualities' (see C. Fox, exhibition catalogue, Artists of the Newlyn School 1880-1900, Newlyn Orion Gallery, 1979, p. 21).
In a moment of pure artistry Munnings has captured the true essence of summer warmth and sunshine so evocative of coastal beach scenes. The treatment of the rocks is rendered with dashes of colour laid down in sweeping strokes. His fluid shorthand seems to imply his excitement at capturing the shimmer of light on the whitish granite boulders as he cleverly uses the unpainted ground of the canvas to suggest the rock and its texture.
In addition to being a tranquil seaside scene, the painting contains a masterful juxtaposition of textures, tones and movement. The flat but sparkling sea contrasts with the curvaceous dull grey boulders. The brilliant blue tones of the older woman's hat and scarf and the green moss are dramatic compared to the pale neutral-coloured rock formations. The serenity and timelessness of the craggy cove are animated by the youthful little girl, her dress dancing with her movements as she skips over the mossy rocks near the water's edge. The tranquility of the scene is enlivened by the glistening highlights along the shoreline and in the water.
The figures on the rocks are Houghton Birch, the wife of the artist Samuel John Lamorna Birch, known as 'Mouse', seated in the foreground in the blue hat; her daughter Lamorna, known as 'Mornie', who was born in 1904, and Marjorie Taylor, a local girl who often posed as a model for Munnings and Laura Knight. Assuming that Mornie is aged 8 or 9 years old, the work can be dated to the summer of 1912 or 1913.
When one thinks of Munnings one immediately thinks of his equestrian pictures yet this extremely evocative Cornish coast scene exemplifies his supreme mastery of his art. In an article in Country Life, 'Munnings Dismounted', 1972, p. 392, he advocates that art should fill a man's soul with admiration and sheer joy, just as this simple scene must have inspired his imagination.
This work will be included in Lorian Peralta-Ramos' forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the works of Sir Alfred Munnings.
Munnings wrote of his first impression of the Cornish coast, 'such scenery was entirely new, and even more so, the sight and sound of the band of white, moving surf, six hundred feet below, at the foot of steep-pinnacled granite cliffs, which on some great headland stood like castles above the restless surging of the Atlantic ground-swell. No words can describe these scenic effects. On an August or September day, to lie on the sweet-smelling turf, watching sea-pinks trembling in light winds, and listening to the unceasing sound of the surf and cry of gulls, gives peace and rest to body and soul. Nothing quite like this coast exists anywhere. There were spots where I could laze and be idle and drowsy enough in Norfolk, but of all places, on the right day, I find myself more often longing to be back on those Cornish Cliffs, lying in the sun, listening to the incessant sound of the surf' (A.J. Munnings, An Artist's Life, Bungay, 1950, p. 271).
The quiet valley opens on to the cove depicted in the present work. Steep rock cliffs on either side of the mouth of the valley, glimpsed to the right in the present work, envelop the boulder-strewn cove. The cove became the setting for numerous scenes: Lamorna and Sketching at Lamorna (see A.J. Munnings, Pictures of Horses and English Life, London, 1939, p. 81, no. 37 and no. 39.), Phyllis Crocker at Lamorna (Sir Alfred Munnings Art Museum, Castle House, Dedham) and A Girl Seated, Lamorna Cove (Christie's, London, 6 March 1986, lot 174) and two watercolours of the subject were exhibited in the 1985 Barbican Art Gallery exhibition Painting in Newlyn 1880-1930, no. 170 and no. 171.
Dame Laura Knight, among many other artists, used the same setting for her painting Daughters of the Sun, 1911, exhibited at the Royal Academy, 1911, no. 329, fig. 1. Other Lamorna paintings by Laura Knight are On the Rocks at Lamorna, fig. 2, and The Beach, fig. 3.
Lamorna Cove is consistent with the Newlyn School philosophy and teaching for plein air painting, whereby reflective colour and light achieve overall unity throughout the composition. Munnings used a square brush for much of the canvas, a technique also consistent with the Newlyn ethos. Caroline Fox comments on the ethos which, 'concentrated description upon "tone and value". Outlines were blurred. The effect and purpose was to suggest a kind of atmospheric envelope ... atmosphere is as much a part of the picture as the mere actualities' (see C. Fox, exhibition catalogue, Artists of the Newlyn School 1880-1900, Newlyn Orion Gallery, 1979, p. 21).
In a moment of pure artistry Munnings has captured the true essence of summer warmth and sunshine so evocative of coastal beach scenes. The treatment of the rocks is rendered with dashes of colour laid down in sweeping strokes. His fluid shorthand seems to imply his excitement at capturing the shimmer of light on the whitish granite boulders as he cleverly uses the unpainted ground of the canvas to suggest the rock and its texture.
In addition to being a tranquil seaside scene, the painting contains a masterful juxtaposition of textures, tones and movement. The flat but sparkling sea contrasts with the curvaceous dull grey boulders. The brilliant blue tones of the older woman's hat and scarf and the green moss are dramatic compared to the pale neutral-coloured rock formations. The serenity and timelessness of the craggy cove are animated by the youthful little girl, her dress dancing with her movements as she skips over the mossy rocks near the water's edge. The tranquility of the scene is enlivened by the glistening highlights along the shoreline and in the water.
The figures on the rocks are Houghton Birch, the wife of the artist Samuel John Lamorna Birch, known as 'Mouse', seated in the foreground in the blue hat; her daughter Lamorna, known as 'Mornie', who was born in 1904, and Marjorie Taylor, a local girl who often posed as a model for Munnings and Laura Knight. Assuming that Mornie is aged 8 or 9 years old, the work can be dated to the summer of 1912 or 1913.
When one thinks of Munnings one immediately thinks of his equestrian pictures yet this extremely evocative Cornish coast scene exemplifies his supreme mastery of his art. In an article in Country Life, 'Munnings Dismounted', 1972, p. 392, he advocates that art should fill a man's soul with admiration and sheer joy, just as this simple scene must have inspired his imagination.
This work will be included in Lorian Peralta-Ramos' forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the works of Sir Alfred Munnings.