Tuesday, June 23, 2020

Alfred Munnings (1878-1959) - Robust Literalist

Alfred Munnings
The Painting Room, Norwich School of Art
1897
oil on canvas
Norfolk Museums

Alfred Munnings
Does the Subject Matter?
ca. 1952
oil on canvas
Munnings Art Museum, Colchester, Essex

Alfred Munnings was elected president of the Royal Academy of Arts in 1944 (defeating the rival candidate, Augustus John – whose ambition and prestige remained nevertheless far higher). Munnings' presidency is still remembered for the after-dinner speech he delivered in 1949, attacking artistic Modernism. It was broadcast live by the BBC and attracted international attention. A drunken-sounding Munnings asserted that widely-revered painters such as Cézanne, Matisse and Picasso had desecrated the meaning and violated the purpose of art. Pictures, Munnings said, were meant "to fill a man's soul with admiration and sheer joy, not to bewilder and daze him." He recalled that his old friend Winston Churchill had once said to him, "Alfred, if you met Picasso coming down the street would you join with me in kicking his . . . something something?" – to which Munnings said he replied, "Yes Sir, I would."

Alfred Munnings
Study of Paul Delaney, Withypool, Exmoor
1943
oil on board
Munnings Art Museum, Colchester, Essex

Alfred Munnings
In Cornwall (Portrait of the Artist's Wife)
ca. 1911-21
oil on canvas
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, West Midlands

Alfred Munnings
Still Life
ca. 1897
oil on canvas
Norfolk Museums

Alfred Munnings
Sunny June
1901
oil on canvas
Norfolk Museums

Alfred Munnings
King George V riding his favorite pony Jock in Sandringham Great Park
ca. 1935
oil on canvas
Colchester and Ipswich Museums, Essex

Alfred Munnings
The Gilded Coach painted in the Palace Yard in Grey Weather
1936
oil on canvas
Munnings Art Museum, Colchester, Essex

Alfred Munnings
Tagg's Island
1920
oil on canvas
Munnings Art Museum, Colchester, Essex

Alfred Munnings
Study of George Curzon, Groom
1908
oil on canvas
Munnings Art Museum, Colchester, Essex

Alfred Munnings
Sheet of Sketches
1913
drawing
Munnings Art Museum, Colchester, Essex

Alfred Munnings
Académie (Julian's Atelier in Paris)
1902
oil on canvas
Norfolk Museums

Alfred Munnings
Académie (Julian's Atelier in Paris)
ca. 1901
oil on canvas
Munnings Art Museum, Colchester, Essex

Alfred Munnings
Académie (Julian's Atelier in Paris)
1901
oil on canvas
Munnings Art Museum, Colchester, Essex

Alfred Munnings
On The Downs
ca. 1920
oil on canvas
Yale Center for British Art