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Lot Essay
Munnings lived in Mendham from 1898-1907 and painted many scenes of country life. The gypsy way of life which Munnings observed during the summer months at the beginning of the 20th century was a subject close to his heart. From an early age, he had known and seen gypsy encampments close to the family’s mill in Mendham and he returned to it as subject throughout his career. The horse fairs which took place on Saturdays in Norwich, Lavenham and Bungay on Outney Common were of particular interest, 'This was a plunge into the most vividly coloured phase of life I had so far seen. I had known horse sales in Norwich, local races and regattas; but what were they compared to this vast fair and meeting combined on Bungay Common? There were roundabouts, shooting galleries, swinging boats and coconut shies; large eating-and-drinking-tents, flags flying, and thousands of oranges blazing on stalls in the sun. I had never seen such droves of ponies and gypsy lads' (An Artist’s Life, London, 1950, p. 65).
The present work is similar in subject matter and size to other watercolours executed in 1907, for example, A Norfolk Fair, 1907, An Ancient Rebel, 1907 and Norwich Hill, Tombland Fair, circa 1905, which include the caravans in the background with their distinctive awnings and also the white pony Augereau. The skewbald pony also appears in two works from this year, Ponies in a Grassy Lane, 1907 and alongside Augereau in The Old Gravel Pit, Swainsthorpe, 1907.
Augereau the white pony with curly mane and docked tail was Munnings' favourite and most famous equine model who first appeared in his paintings in 1907, often alongside chestnut ponies to emphasise his white coat. Munnings bought Augereau from a horse-trader named Drake around 1906. He was named by Munnings after seeing a matinee performance of a play called A Royal Divorce in which a character continuously exclaims, 'I swear it on the word of an Augereau.' Munnings wrote, 'Augereau was the most picturesque of white ponies – an artist’s ideal. A white horse has been used in many pictures by many artists. Augereau’s name may go down to posterity as the last of his disappearing race to pose as a model for a picture.’ (Munnings, op. cit., p.199). Munnings would often purchase a pony from Drake and after a few months would swap it for another, the exception being Augereau who lived out his life at Munnings’s family home at Mendham.
Munnings had studied watercolour painting for six years under Gertrude Offord (1860-1903) when he attended Norwich School of Art in the 1890s. His appreciation of the portability and spontaneity that the medium allowed, coupled with its rich colour and fluidity meant that Munnings would take watercolours with him to the horse fairs to capture scenes such as in the present work, en plein air. The careful placing of yellow and orange, purple and green creates the atmospheric balance of the picture and the ponies blend naturally into their surroundings, whilst their coats are used as surfaces off which light and colour could be reflected. Early in the 1920s Munnings stopped using watercolours which he had deployed so effectively to capture the fleeting, busy scenes of the horse fairs.
In 1920 Munnings exhibited a group of gypsy paintings at James Connell, London. In his review of the exhibition, Paul Konody, art critic for the Observer and Daily Mail, wrote that Munnings was ‘The most English of all living painters.. He is a lover of open-air life. His farmers, hop pickers, gypsies, tinkers, vagabonds ..who spend the best part of their lives under the dome of heaven, among fields and hedgerows – are not merely chosen by him for their picturesque appearance but because his sympathies go out to them. Whatever, he paints is deeply felt, and every stroke of his brush is inspired by his depth of feeling, which is of the very essence of significant art.’
We are grateful to Lorian Peralta-Ramos, the Curatorial staff at The Munnings Museum and Tristram Lewis for their assistance in preparing this catalogue entry.
The present work is similar in subject matter and size to other watercolours executed in 1907, for example, A Norfolk Fair, 1907, An Ancient Rebel, 1907 and Norwich Hill, Tombland Fair, circa 1905, which include the caravans in the background with their distinctive awnings and also the white pony Augereau. The skewbald pony also appears in two works from this year, Ponies in a Grassy Lane, 1907 and alongside Augereau in The Old Gravel Pit, Swainsthorpe, 1907.
Augereau the white pony with curly mane and docked tail was Munnings' favourite and most famous equine model who first appeared in his paintings in 1907, often alongside chestnut ponies to emphasise his white coat. Munnings bought Augereau from a horse-trader named Drake around 1906. He was named by Munnings after seeing a matinee performance of a play called A Royal Divorce in which a character continuously exclaims, 'I swear it on the word of an Augereau.' Munnings wrote, 'Augereau was the most picturesque of white ponies – an artist’s ideal. A white horse has been used in many pictures by many artists. Augereau’s name may go down to posterity as the last of his disappearing race to pose as a model for a picture.’ (Munnings, op. cit., p.199). Munnings would often purchase a pony from Drake and after a few months would swap it for another, the exception being Augereau who lived out his life at Munnings’s family home at Mendham.
Munnings had studied watercolour painting for six years under Gertrude Offord (1860-1903) when he attended Norwich School of Art in the 1890s. His appreciation of the portability and spontaneity that the medium allowed, coupled with its rich colour and fluidity meant that Munnings would take watercolours with him to the horse fairs to capture scenes such as in the present work, en plein air. The careful placing of yellow and orange, purple and green creates the atmospheric balance of the picture and the ponies blend naturally into their surroundings, whilst their coats are used as surfaces off which light and colour could be reflected. Early in the 1920s Munnings stopped using watercolours which he had deployed so effectively to capture the fleeting, busy scenes of the horse fairs.
In 1920 Munnings exhibited a group of gypsy paintings at James Connell, London. In his review of the exhibition, Paul Konody, art critic for the Observer and Daily Mail, wrote that Munnings was ‘The most English of all living painters.. He is a lover of open-air life. His farmers, hop pickers, gypsies, tinkers, vagabonds ..who spend the best part of their lives under the dome of heaven, among fields and hedgerows – are not merely chosen by him for their picturesque appearance but because his sympathies go out to them. Whatever, he paints is deeply felt, and every stroke of his brush is inspired by his depth of feeling, which is of the very essence of significant art.’
We are grateful to Lorian Peralta-Ramos, the Curatorial staff at The Munnings Museum and Tristram Lewis for their assistance in preparing this catalogue entry.