The Munnings Art Museum
During the winter months whilst we are closed to the public, we are busy re-decorating and re-hanging our new displays and special exhibition – opening on Wednesday 5th April 2023! Enjoy these sneak peeks at the displays for this coming season. Brought to you by Museum Director, Jenny Hand and Curatorial Associate, Dr Bill Teatheredge.
Museum Director, Jenny Hand, shows ‘A Suffolk Horse Fair, Lavenham’ which has just been hung in one of our upstairs galleries.
Museum Director, Jenny Hand, gives us a sneak peek of one of the new displays for our 2023 season focusing on Munnings’ sense of humour and imagination 
Museum Director, Jenny Hand, shows the planning for a wall of horse studies by Sir Alfred Munnings as part of a new display for this coming season – opening on 5th April
No, we are not looking at Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity…. Curatorial Associate, Dr Bill Teatheredge, shows us the complex working process used to plan this glorious display of horse studies for this coming season!
We very much look forward to welcoming you back for our new season from 5th April 2023!
Be ready for our new season and enjoy 12 months unlimited visits to the museum during open season with our year pass!
As we approach re-opening for our new 2023 season, we look back at our special exhibition from last year, Alfred Munnings: The Art of the Poster. The exhibition presented a vibrant display of Munnings’ lesser known commercial designs, posters, black and white pictures and early paintings. The displays focused on the early influences on a young Munnings and his ability to capture the popular aesthetic of La Belle Epoque. In this post, we share some of the exhibition highlights….
‘Flower Girl, Violets’, c1904.
Oil on canvas, H 35.6 x W 45.7 cm
Munnings was immersed in a new city environment, inspired by trips to the theatre and the new people that he met. These influences can be seen in both his commercial and personal work.
This composition places the woman in the foreground while the busy Norwich ‘street life’ whirled around behind her.
Design for an Advert, ‘Colman’s Mustard’, 1890s.
Poster colour on paper, H 27.5 x W 43 cm.
The people of Norwich also inspired Munnings poster work. This design was never used.
Study of a Plaster Cast, ‘Camellia’, 1893.
Sepia wash on paper, H 38 x W 28 cm
This painting, of a plaster cast, shows the level of detail demanded by Munnings tutor, Gertrude Offord, of her students at Norwich School of Art.
This was Munnings’ examination piece.
Later in the first volume of his Autobiography ‘An Artists’ Life’ Munnings writes: “My artistic career began when my eyes were opened to all the never-ending wonders of perspective and light and shade”.
‘Lorna Doone’, c1898.
Pastel on paper, H 36 x W 17 cm
In 1897 Munnings joined the Norwich Art Circle. It is likely that he was introduced to the circle by Gertrude Offord. He worked hard to create paintings worthy of submission to their twice yearly exhibitions.
“… all my efforts were made with the hope that I might shine there and perhaps sell my work.”
Each May, the Norwich Art Circle held a unique exhibition of black and white works. Munnings was an avid reader, he was very familiar with the classic Victorian novelists and poets. Often his submissions to these black and white exhibitions were imagined scenes depicting heroes and heroines of literature, like this pastel work ‘Lorna Doone’.
Munnings was introduced to R.D. Blackmore’s novel Lorna Doone by a colleague at Page Bros.
Design for a Box Top, ‘Caley’s Cycling Crackers’, c1898.
Poster colour on paper, H 25 x W 20 cm
Munnings learnt to design posters and advertising during the 1890s, at this time the poster craze was in full bloom.Facilitated by lithography’s ability to mass produce designs, the streets of Paris, Milan and Berlin were turned into public art galleries, ushering in the modern age of advertising.
Lithography uses a simple chemical process on a flatplate of stone or metal to create an image. The positiveimage is drawn onto the surface of the plate with a waterrepellent medium like a wax crayon. A printing ink and water mixture is applied to the plate. The ink sticks to the positive image and the water cleans the rest away.
Cassie Jeweller, 1901.
Oil on canvas, H 163 x W 87 cm
Munnings used the local people that he knew as models for both his paintings and in his poster designs. The women are depicted in contemporary clothes with charming dresses, hats and attractive accessories.
Cassie Jeweller, Catherine Drummond Juler, posed for other Norwich artists as well as Munnings. Cassie is dressed in contemporary fashions dress signified by frilly sleeves, feathered hat and choker necklace.
‘Lady with a Rose’, 1899.
Poster colour on paper, H 269.3 x W 99 cm.
Painted at Mendham, this original poster design was entered into the Poster Academy at Crystal Palace where it won the silver medal in 1899.
Design for a Poster, ‘Caley’s Art Crackers’, c1898.
Lithograph, H 73 x W 100 cm
Design for a Poster, ‘Caley’s Crackers’ Design for a Poster, ‘Caley’s Crackers’, 1890s.
Lithograph, H 56 x W 44 cm
Repeatedly, Munnings used fairy-tale fantasy creatures to inspire his illustrations. Cleverly using this fashionable imagery to make a winning design.
The Victorian era witnessed the growing popularity and publication of fairy and fantastical tales. The fascination with subject was instigated by the publication of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll in 1865 which continued into the 20th century.
In this poster design for Caley’s Crackers, Munnings has used many of the typical fairylike imagery such as wings, pointed ears and toadstools.
Design for a Box Top, ‘Caley’s Deep Sea Crackers’, 1890s.
Lithograph, H 22.5 x W 19.5 cm
This cracker box top design includes the fantastical character of the mermaid.
Pierrette (Reclining Lady), 1898.
Poster colour on paper, H 133 x W 199 cm
Munnings’ use of historical costume is key to the character creation in his poster designs. One of his most recognisable motifs is the Pierrot. During the 1880s and 90s the Pierrot figure became popular once again and could be found across all the visual arts.
‘The Fancy Dress Ball’, 1901.
Oil on canvas, H 50.8 x W 30.8 cm
Here we get a glimpse of Munnings’ love of drama, costume and story-telling, as well as the strong influence of his adverting designs for Page Bros. It is also an example of Munnings’ exuberant use of colour and uninhibited, impressionistic, brush-work that were a feature of his painting in the early years of the 20th century.
Popular pierot and pierrette costumes were a fancy dress favourite of the 1890s and early 1900s. The costumes were easy to make and fit to a variety of sizes, using cheap and commercially available fabrics.
‘A Lady Seated in a Park’, 1903.
Oil on canvas, H 40.6 x W 30.5 cm
Many of Munnings’ poster designs feature characters in Georgian costume. Munnings’ had a great fascination with the Georgian period. He refers to this in his autobiography: “This was the period of costume that I liked best of all.”
‘The Solo’, 1899.
Poster colour on cloth backed paper, H 193 x W 173 cm
Chosen from amongst 240 entries at the Poster Academy at Crystal Palace in London this design, of a man in Georgian costume playing a cello, won the gold medal.
Short of money, he sold the medal for six gold sovereigns and spent the money on a celebratory dinner. He later regretted parting with the prize but was unable to retrieve it.
We now look forward to our 2023 special exhibition, ‘Alfred Munnings: Colour and Light’ which opens on Wednesday 5th April 2023 along with over 200 more paintings and drawings charting the life and career of Sir Alfred Munnings. We look forward to welcoming you back for our new season!
The Grey Horse, Ned Osborne on Grey Tick goes on display at Munnings Art Museum, Dedham
Grandson of Munnings’ groom and model visits artist’s former home to see famous painting and share memories of Ned Osborne
One of Sir Alfred Munnings’ most famous and instantly recognisable paintings has gone on display in the artist’s former home in Dedham, Essex. The Grey Horse, Ned Osborne on Grey Tick is kindly on loan from a private collector and is regarded as one of Munnings’s most romantic and evocative paintings.
The Grey Horse, Ned Osborne on Grey Tick, c1913
The composition is dominated by the impressive grey mare, Grey Tick, with the artist’s model and groom, Ned Osborne riding him bareback, with a fair at Zennor on the north coast of Cornwall in the background. One of the first people to see the painting on display was a true VIP, none other than Ned’s grandson, John Osborne.
“We were delighted to welcome John to the museum and to show him around the rooms and galleries and, of course, we couldn’t wait to show him the painting. This was the first time John had ever seen it ‘in the flesh’” explains Munnings Art Museum Director, Jenny Hand.
“We talked a lot about John’s grandfather, Ned, and he also told us more about his wider family. Ned, who was a hard-working young man, was extremely proud to be part of Munnings’ world and to model for him on so many occasions. When Ned and Munnings parted company at the beginning of the First World War, Ned went off to Wales and worked as a coal miner” Jenny adds
Grey Tick was an enduring favourite of the artist and is evocatively described by Lionel Lindsay in his 1939 book A.J. Munnings, R.A. Pictures of Horses and English life: “How powerfully the Grey Horse moves, thrown by a low horizon high against the shadows of the massed cumuli, whose lit summits echo the lights of the body. The warm reflections from the belly and the cold reflections from the sky on neck and shoulders give to the literal movement of the animal a sense of actual movement in space.”
The connection between Munnings and Ned Osborne was made when the artist moved to Lamorna, in Cornwall in 1913. The artist described meeting Osborne in the first instalment of his autobiography: “My stables and studio at Lamorna were all in one; the studio, a large converted loft with a skylight, was above the stables. I found a new lad, a primitive Cornish youth. Ned was the name of this simple soul, who grew into a useful combination of groom-model, and posed for many a picture.”
The painting on display at the Munnings Art Museum is the largest and most detailed version of several that he painted of Osborne astride Grey Tick, as he described in his autobiography: “There were many other sketches and studies made at Zennor, one with Ned on the grey mare against the sky, not in the scarlet coat but with bare arms and shirt sleeves, and riding bare-back at a fair. This was bought later for a Gallery in Australia; and after the war I finished a much larger version, begun at Zennor, called The Grey Horse. Good, patient Grey Tick! I have often thought of her since, and how she helped my account at the bank.”
Much praised for his patience by the artist, it was also Ned’s skin tone and physique that suggested that he was ideally suited for equestrian paintings featuring hunting clothes, especially a scarlet coat and black cap.
When the First World War began in 1914, neither Munnings or Ned were accepted for front line duty in the War. Munnings initially continued to paint in Cornwall before enlisting with the Remounts, based at Calcot Park, near Reading while the short stature of Ned made him ideal for working in the coal mines of Wales, to serve the war effort.
Jenny Hand and John Osborne
Visiting the Munnings Art Museum specially to see the painting, Ned’s grandson John Osborne explained what happened after the Armistice: “He left the coal mines at Penrhiwceiber (Pentreceiber in the English derivation) near Abercynon in South Wales with his father, several brothers, and two sons, Thomas and my father John. His mother having passed away in the village in 1918. Returning to Cornwall, Ned acquired a small farm near Pendeen and not far from Zennor, where he lived until the 1960s. Horses were always in evidence on the farm, more for pleasure, as tractors took over the workload. He retired to a house at Sancreed, later moving to a retirement cottage in the village of Newbridge. He passed away in 1984, aged 93.”
Mr Osborne added: “I was born in the village of Newbridge back in 1949 and because that part of Cornwall was very poor in those days my father moved us in the mid-1950s to Hertfordshire, where my mother’s parents lived. So, I only saw my grandfather when we went to Cornwall every year on holiday, or during his rare visits to us in Hertfordshire.”
Describing how he felt seeing Ned on Grey Tick, John said: “Visiting the museum was a wonderful experience for me and as I walked in the front door it was thrilling to see the painting for the first time, right in front of me. I always remember him dressed very similarly to that in the painting, the only thing missing was his cap which was a permanent fixture on his head in his later life. I would like to thank Jenny and her colleague Marcia Whiting, for making my visit a special day in my life.”
Photograph of Ned riding Grey Tick 1913
Ned and his wife in the 1950s
The owner of the painting, John Innes, said: “I am delighted that the Grey Horse is on display at the Munnings Art Museum. My grandfather was a great admirer and personal friend of Munnings. He purchased a number of paintings from him of which the Grey Horse was his absolute pride. He would have been pleased to have had the opportunity to buy it and as he was a rich man then filling Munnings’ account at the bank would have been a pleasure.”
Whilst the museum has been very quiet during lockdowns we have certainly been kept busy over the last year. This included filming with Michael Portillo last summer for his series Great British Railway Journeys. Our episode aired on Monday 3rd May 2021 on BBC2 at 6.30pm and focuses on artistic life in Dedham and the paintings of Alfred Munnings between the two World Wars. The episode is now available on BBC IPlayer.
Throughout Monday 3rd May we also be posted more inter-war artworks by Sir Alfred Munnings, on our social media channels, with commentry from Dr Bill Teatheredge. These are included in this blog post below.
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Known in the inter war years for his commissioned portraits of racehorses Munnings would, in his spare time, paint for his own pleasure. Staying at the Rank’s stables at Druids Lodge, Salisbury, in order to paint their racehorses, Munnings depicts Mrs Rank relaxing by her pool. An unusual composition for Munnings it could be seen in art historical terms as between an Edward Hopper, before the war, and a David Hockney after.
1940, Oil on canvas
Although Munnings probably learnt to sculpt while at the Norwich School of Art there are only two known commissioned works. The first was a bronze statue of Lieutenant Horner, in 1919, and this sculpture of the famous racehorse Brown Jack in 1935. Both works are superb in their detail and accuracy. Why exactly an internationally renowned painter would be asked to diverse into another difficult medium is not known. Brown Jack does however demonstrate Munnings supreme skill not only in depicting the equine but also as an all-round artist.
1935, Bronze
The one thing Munnings loved to do was to sit by a river and paint. Here he depicts St. Mary’s Church, Dedham, on a beautiful summer’s day with the River Stour lazily flowing along. Munnings loved the countryside especially the Dedham Vale which he considered his arcadia. Conservation was very important to him so about the time Munnings painted this, and a whole series of similar works, he was made the first President of the newly formed Dedham Vale Society. Their work resulted in the Dedham Vale being designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
c1935, oil on canvas
This tender portrait of Munnings’ second wife Violet is set in the garden of Castle House, The Munnings Arts Museum. On a summer’s morning Violet seems oblivious of Munnings painting her as she sews. High tonal values of light set this work off with pastel yellow hues contrasting and blending with the green of the trees and blue of the flowers. The serenity of this work early in their marriage offsets the busy but loving times, as seen in Munnings’ letters to Violet, which would lead Munnings to become a Knight and President of the Royal Academy.
c1920, oil on canvas
An unusual composition by Munnings takes us back to his early designs while he was working at Page Brothers lithographers at the end of the 19th century. This, however, is intended as a back-cloth for a Chelsea Arts Club ball. At one point the Chelsea Arts Club was a second home for Munnings until he was suspended for swearing. Between the wars Munnings enjoyed attending numerous London clubs including Winston Churchill’s exclusive The Other Club.
c1925, oil on canvas
Between the wars Violet and Munnings would regularly visit Exmoor. Munnings described that when he was there all he could do was ride his horse and paint. His subjects varied from wide desolate landscapes to scenes of rivers and Violet out riding. In paintings such as this one Munnings captures the very heart of the countryside as a farm worker uses traditional methods to thatch a stack. An admirer of Impressionism, which reflects very much in his own art, Munnings may have had Monet in his thoughts while making this study.
1938, oil on board
The Munnings Art Museum
“… much of the work and all of the play were suddenly at an end.” (Sir Alfred Munnings)
Jenny Hand, Director of the Munnings Art Museum describes the last twelve months in the life of the museum
There is nothing quite like the feeling of emptiness that invades you when the museum you run is void of visitors. The quietness is deafening. In more usual times the steady burble of voices, which starts in the hushed tones of enquiry and rises to sudden exclamations of discovery, is one of the joys of working in a special place like the Munnings Art Museum.
At the beginning of March 2020 the museum was all set for another exciting season riding high on the achievements of the previous year; 2019 was the most successful in its six decade history when the museum exhibited 45 First World War paintings by Sir Alfred Munnings on loan from the Canadian War Museum.
As the pandemic took hold we had to cancel volunteer orientations, coach party bookings and planned events. Our new exhibition, Yours With Love, AJ sat silent as opening day came and went in the first lockdown. There was some good news, however, when our latest book, which inspired the exhibition, made it to the printer just in time. The book is the culmination of years of painstaking work to transcribe fifty-four letters written by Alfred Munnings to his new wife Violet in the early 1920s when he was away from home painting the portraits of wealthy patrons.
The constraints of lockdown brought a new wave of creativity from the cultural sector. Museums searched for ways to engage with people at home through social media. Under the hashtag #showmethemunnings we set ourselves the challenge of completing a nationwide virtual tour of paintings by Sir Alfred Munnings in public museums by the end of lockdown. Each day we posted a different painting on our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram channels. The reaction was joyous and demonstrated how uplifting experiencing art can be, even when online. One follower commented, “I’m loving my daily Munnings. They make my day <3”.
The art of Sir Alfred Munnings kept us uplifted and connected, too. We devised a series of bite-sized email updates about the new exhibition which enabled us to stay in touch with our volunteers, staff and trustees reinforcing our togetherness.
The opening of the museum at the beginning of September couldn’t have been further away from that of the previous year: visitors snaked through the building in a thin, orderly line, their visits measured out by the new timed-ticket system. We welcomed them from behind our barriers of plastic, rope and cloth. But, some surprising opportunities came with all this strangeness. The slower, more deliberate pace gave visitors space and time to contemplate the artworks. Stewards embraced the challenge of stepping into new positions and stretching the boundaries of their previous roles.
The late summer also brought sunshine and colour. The cancelled workshop tutors and live-horse models from earlier in the year were re-booked and we soon had small, socially-distanced groups of budding and professional artists stirring the museum grounds into life again. Their paintings of an elegant side-saddle rider and two majestic Suffolk Punches were more than just artistic endeavours. They embodied new-found freedoms.
November dealt us all a fresh blow with the arrival of a second lockdown but the small team that was able to continue turned its focus towards Christmas mail orders. Our web shop was given a make-over and its new array of books, prints and gifts, including art-inspired facemasks, was promoted to our growing online following. The shop received an unprecedented volume of orders in December.
Key to this revamped retail-offer was another new publication, entitled Where Shallows Talk. Edited by Dr Tim Gardiner, it is an anthology of poetry, written by sixteen local poets, in response to the paintings of Alfred Munnings during our exhibition Munnings and the River when Tim was the museum’s poet-in-residence.
As I write this we are energetically making plans for re-opening. Emails are pinging into the inbox from our keen to return volunteer stewards. Dates for summer art workshops are being discussed and tutors and models are checking their diaries. The exhibition Yours With Love, AJ patiently awaits its visitors and we look forward to the moment when the silent rooms of Castle House are filled once more with the sounds of carefree chatter.
Jenny Hand
Director, the Munnings Art Museum
www.munningsmuseum.org.uk
Facebook: @munningsartmuseum
Twitter: @alfredmunnings
Instagram: @munnings_art_museum
Our books: Behind the Lines, Yours With Love, AJ, Munnings and the River and Where Shallows Talk are all available to buy online or over the phone.
Tonight a ‘pink’ supermoon will brighten up the night sky over Dedham. April’s full moon is known as the ‘pink moon’ not for its colour, but after pink phlox flowers that bloom in the springtime. In Path to the Orchard, a cluster of phlox flowers can be seen in the foreground of the picture. Munnings writes of both full moons and phlox flowers in his autobiography:
“I looked into the sun doing this. A girl in white linen hat and apron leading him across the picture along the path by the river at Mendham. Clumps of white and crimson phlox in the garden were the foreground; blue water, trees and the lawn fence on the far bank the background.”
“…One night, going home at a merry trot, singing “Landlord, fill the flowing bowl”, my steed shied at the full moon reflected in a puddle of water, and left me sitting in the road. But my glad song went on as I did the remainder of the journey on foot, as jolly as ever, and found the riderless, foolish mare waiting outside her stable. Happy, pleasant, far-off days!”
Sir Alfred Munnings, An Artist’s Life 1950.
