.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
In the present composition, Munnings is painting Langham Mill Pool in the village of Langham-on-Stour, three miles from the artists home in Dedham. It was an idyllic spot, 'To use the word Arcadia here is not affectation. No other word could describe Langham Mill, its lock, bridge, mill-pool, floodgates and trees. No miller's daughter out of a Tennyson poem ever dwelt in such a spot as this ... From 1919 to 1935 I used to paint there, bathe there, row there in a boat, walk there, rode there. To know it was three miles away gave me a distinct happiness' (A.J. Munnings, An Artist's Life, Bungay, 1950, p. 120).
The viewpoint in his paintings of the mill pool is consistent, it is the nature of the prevailing light or weather which is at least as important as the specific subject. Langham Mill Pool (Christie's, London, 27 November 2002, lot 14, $125,953) features the pool on a bright, fresh day with purples and pale greens. The present work, by way of contrast, depicts cooler weather conditions; the trees are bent against the wind and the surface of the water is ruffled. The colors are autumnal, woody greens and browns, and Munnings uses zig-zag brushstrokes and creamy yellow impasto to create the blurred shadows in the water.
The work is illustrated in his biography, although listed with incorrect measurements, and Munnings notes '"The First Breath of Autumn", was Sir Desmond MacCarthy's favorite.' MacCarthy was a critic with whom Munnings had some correspondence, notably concerning modern art. MacCarthy's approach to art was obviously in line with Munnings' and in his biography he quotes from one of MacCarthy's letters, 'It means two things. First, that at last lovers of pictures are asserting their faith that painting is a representative art, a principle which no one doubted till lately, and secondly, that they are beginning to kick against the capture of the theoretical cliques of all the main cliques of all the main channels of art criticism, who scare and hypnotise people with incomprehensive jargon and spread exoretic [sic] snobbishness instead of appreciation.' (A.J. Munnings, The Finish, Bungay, 1951, p. 261). Munnings was obviously enamoured of the critic since when MacCarthy offered to review the first volume of his autobiography, Munnings wrote him an illustrated letter in verse explaining how thrilled he was (op. cit., opposite p. 345).
This work will be included in Lorian Peralta-Ramos' forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the works of Sir Alfred Munnings.
The viewpoint in his paintings of the mill pool is consistent, it is the nature of the prevailing light or weather which is at least as important as the specific subject. Langham Mill Pool (Christie's, London, 27 November 2002, lot 14, $125,953) features the pool on a bright, fresh day with purples and pale greens. The present work, by way of contrast, depicts cooler weather conditions; the trees are bent against the wind and the surface of the water is ruffled. The colors are autumnal, woody greens and browns, and Munnings uses zig-zag brushstrokes and creamy yellow impasto to create the blurred shadows in the water.
The work is illustrated in his biography, although listed with incorrect measurements, and Munnings notes '"The First Breath of Autumn", was Sir Desmond MacCarthy's favorite.' MacCarthy was a critic with whom Munnings had some correspondence, notably concerning modern art. MacCarthy's approach to art was obviously in line with Munnings' and in his biography he quotes from one of MacCarthy's letters, 'It means two things. First, that at last lovers of pictures are asserting their faith that painting is a representative art, a principle which no one doubted till lately, and secondly, that they are beginning to kick against the capture of the theoretical cliques of all the main cliques of all the main channels of art criticism, who scare and hypnotise people with incomprehensive jargon and spread exoretic [sic] snobbishness instead of appreciation.' (A.J. Munnings, The Finish, Bungay, 1951, p. 261). Munnings was obviously enamoured of the critic since when MacCarthy offered to review the first volume of his autobiography, Munnings wrote him an illustrated letter in verse explaining how thrilled he was (op. cit., opposite p. 345).
This work will be included in Lorian Peralta-Ramos' forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the works of Sir Alfred Munnings.