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Claude Muncaster (1903-1974) Near Mundesley, Norfolk
Dated 1930 Signed Watercolour 22x28cm Muncaster's watercolours capture the English countryside feel with great competence Claude Grahame Muncaster, RWS, ROI, RBA, SMA was the son of Oliver Hall RA. At the age of fifteen his career as a landscape painter began, and he soon took to the seas, spending the 1920s and 30s travelling the world with his sketchbook in a series of vessels. With the outbreak of war and he joined the RNVR training as a navigator. Having left school at fifteen his mathematics was very weak and it was a relief for all when his artistic talents meant he was recruited as a camofleur. A master of capturing seascapes he was therefore able to hide huge ships ‘in plain sight’ with clever disguises. After the war he painted for the Royal Family and was a frequent guest at Sandringham. Claude Muncaster was a watercolourist known for his landscapes and maritime scenes. He was born Grahame Hall, the son of the Royal Academician Oliver Hall who taught his son to paint from an early age; Grahame first exhibited his work aged 15 and a few years later was showing at the RA. However, he adopted the name Claude Muncaster in 1922 to dissociate his career from that of his father. Muncaster’s primary choice of subject matter came from a genuine love of the sea. He made several long-distance sea voyages, including one around the Horn as a deckhand in the windjammer Olivebank in 1931, which he described in ‘Rolling Round the Horn’, published in 1933. Armed with a sketchbook, his aim was to be able to ‘paint ships and the sea with greater authority’. This he certainly achieved, perfectly capturing the limpid first light of morning over the Port of Aden, the choppy rain-grey waters of the Bay of Biscay and a streak of sunlight through gathering storm clouds at dusk in Exeter. He became an Associate of the Royal Watercolour Society in 1931 and was a founder member, and later President, of the Royal Society of Marine Artists. During the Second World War, Muncaster served in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR) from 1940-44, training as a navigator before going on to advise on the camouflage of ships, and also worked as an official war artist. In ‘Still Morning at Aden’ (1944) he depicts Allied warships in this safe anchorage in the Middle East; the back is stamped with Admiralty approval. In 1946-7 he was commissioned by the Queen to produce watercolours of the royal residences at Windsor, Sandringham and Balmoral; the Duke of Edinburgh, in a foreword to a biography of Muncaster, recalls looking at these and considering the artist’s ‘unerring instinct for a subject’, his sense of atmosphere. Other commissions included large panoramas of the Thames and of Bradford. His career also included work as an etcher, illustrator, writer, lecturer and broadcaster, and his paintings can be found in the Royal Academy, Tate, National Maritime Museum Cornwall, National Railway Museum and Royal Air Force Museum. If you are interested email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. -
Claude Muncaster
The Bow Wash
Pen and watercolour 21x28cm Framed Provenance: Martin Muncaster, the artist's son. Click here for biographical details and other works by the artist. If you are interested email info@manningfineart.co.ukor call us on 07929 749056. -
Claude Muncaster
Storm on City of Exeter, Ellerman Line (Passing through the Bay of Biscay), 1948
Signed Watercolour and pencil 21x28cm Provenance: Martin Muncaster, the artist's son. Click here for biographical details and other works by the artist. If you are interested email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. -
Claude Muncaster
Port Alleyway, City of New York, August (1948)
Pen and watercolour Signed 20x28cm Provenance: Martin Muncaster, the artist's son. Click here for biographical details and other works by the artist. If you are interested email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. -
George Horace Davis (1888-1963) Design for publication probably in The Illustrated London News
Tractors and mechanisation Signed and dated 1947 Gouache, monochrome 17.25x29.75" Here the reduction in manpower as a result of the mechanisation of agriculture is celebrated in a typical work by Davis. A "special artist" for 'The Illustrated London News', he worked for it for forty years, the scope and detail of his work being without peer in the rest of the staff. Tractors are pictured in every possible role in agriculture; however the great advances made in the sixty years since then could not have been forseen. Born in Kensington, London, Davis was educated at Kensington Park College and then at Ealing School of Art, working subsequently as a freelance artist until the First World War intervened. He served with the Royal Flying Corps (subsequently the Royal Air Force) with distinction, and had a number of his paintings of aerial combat published in 'The Sphere.' In 1923 he commenced work with The Illustrated London News, for which he worked for the next forty years. His first drawing related to the use, in small boats, of wireless and was the first of many similar diagrammatic drawings designed to educate and inform readers of advances in science, warfare, technology or transport. Needless to say his attention to detail meant architectural drawings were another strength of his, drawings of 10 Downing Street and Westminster Abbey, for instance - and also architectural phantasies such as a proposed heliport at Charing Cross Station. During his career at The Illustrated London News he is estimated to have produced illustrations covering some 2,500 pages of the publication; each one requiring an informed understanding arising from careful research. He continued to work for it until his eighties and at the time of his death there was a supply of finished but as-yet-unpublished works. The sale at Christies in London of the archive of The Illustrated London News on 7 October 2014 included many works by Davis - a price of £16,875 being obtained for a series of seven drawings by him. -
Norman Adams RA (1927-2005)
The Sound of Scarp and Vision of Bernadette (c.1980) (Double sided)
24 x 26 cm Watercolour Norman Adams RA, former professor of painting at the Royal Academy, felt strongly that, "art [without religion] would be a pretty empty vocation." Despite not going to church, nor identifying with any specific belief system, the artist's paintings of the natural world, often dramatic in nature, betray a strong spiritual intensity. On one side of this watercolour Adams has painted a monumental wave crash, captioned 'Southwest Wind - Very Rough Sea The Sea of Scarp.' On the other, is a softer, lilac abstraction entitled 'Vision of Bernadette', a reference to Saint Bernadette's famous visions of Mary at the Lourdes grotto. He studied at Harrow School of Art (1940-46) and then the Royal College of Art (1948-51). His first solo show was at Gimpel Fils in 1952, and his last at the Fine Art Society in 2004. His works included many murals and stage designs. There are many of his major works in the national collection, including the Tate, Leeds Museums, The Whitworth, the Royal College of Art, Bristol Museums, Leicester Museums, The Royal Academy and the Hepworth, Wakefield. -
Claude Muncaster Above Finsthwaite, near Newby Bridge 1968
Watercolour 21x26.5cm 46x52cm including frame, UK shipping only Signed lower right Click here for biographical details and other works by the artist. If you are interested email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. Condition: Good. -
Claude Muncaster Landscape Near Shrewsbury
Watercolour 26 x 36 cm Signed lower left; framed. Click here for biographical details and other works by the artist. If you are interested email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. Condition: Good. -
Rosemary Ellis (1910-1998)
Snail iv
Gouache, 1940s/1950s 25x15cm On laid antique paper In a Nicholson butt-jointed frame Provenance: the family of the artist, by descent. Click here for biographical details and other works by the artist. Clifford and Rosemary Ellis were famous as a husband and wife team for their fascination with nature and their vibrant and charming depictions of animals. They were the natural artists to be commissioned by Collins for their 'New Naturalists' series of books, which have become famous and highly collectable more for the dust jackets designed by the Ellises than for the - otherwise excellent - content. This painting is from a recently discovered series of paintings and drawings, never before seen by the general public, dating from the 1940s and 1950s. If you are interested email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. -
Angela Stones (1914-1995) Holy Trinity Brompton Church
Watercolour 31x41 cm Signed 'Angela Stones' Stones was a member of an artistic dynasty. Her mother Dorothy Bradshaw (1893-1983) studied under Jack Merriott - the artist famous for his British Rail posters, and her son, Christopher Assheton-Stones (1947-1999) was probably the foremost pastel artist of his time. If you are interested email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. -
Claude Muncaster (1903-1974)
Boston Stump
Signed Pen and watercolour 23x34cm (Titled erroneously to reverse 'North Norfolk Churches' Click here for biographical details and other works by the artist. If you are interested email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. -
Nora Davison (1881-1930)
Eton College (c.1920)
31 x 26 cm Watercolour Signed, lower left Nora Davison was a well-known figure around Eton, being responsible for many watercolours. An acclaimed painter of coastal scenes and landscapes she exhibited at inter alia, the Fine Art Society, Walker Art Gallery Liverpool, the New Gallery, Royal Academy, Royal Society of British Artists and Society of Woman Artists. Condition: Generally good - slight loss of colour, mounted to board. -
Henry Cliffe (1919-1983) Blue Standing Figure
Etching Mid 20th Century 46x30cm Click here for biographical details and other pictures by the artist. If you are interested email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. Condition: Good. -
Henry Cliffe (1919-1983) Blue Standing Figure II
Etching Mid 20th Century 45.5x30cm Click here for biographical details and other pictures by the artist. If you are interested email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. Condition: Good. -
Claude Muncaster (1903-1974) Cardiff Castle Wales
Dated May 1962 Signed lower right Watercolour 14x26cm Muncaster's watercolours capture the British countryside feel with great competence and passion. Here the ancient scheduled monument of Cardiff castle is made to feel both grand and imposing, yet reflecting the softness of the countryside. A few elegant motorcars are parked before it. Claude Grahame Muncaster, RWS, ROI, RBA, SMA was the son of Oliver Hall RA. At the age of fifteen his career as a landscape painter began, and he soon took to the seas, spending the 1920s and 30s travelling the world with his sketchbook in a series of vessels. With the outbreak of war and he joined the RNVR training as a navigator. Having left school at fifteen his mathematics was very weak and it was a relief for all when his artistic talents meant he was recruited as a camofleur. A master of capturing seascapes he was therefore able to hide huge ships ‘in plain sight’ with clever disguises. After the war he painted for the Royal Family and was a frequent guest at Sandringham. Claude Muncaster was a watercolourist known for his landscapes and maritime scenes. He was born Grahame Hall, the son of the Royal Academician Oliver Hall who taught his son to paint from an early age; Grahame first exhibited his work aged 15 and a few years later was showing at the RA. However, he adopted the name Claude Muncaster in 1922 to dissociate his career from that of his father. Muncaster’s primary choice of subject matter came from a genuine love of the sea. He made several long-distance sea voyages, including one around the Horn as a deckhand in the windjammer Olivebank in 1931, which he described in ‘Rolling Round the Horn’, published in 1933. Armed with a sketchbook, his aim was to be able to ‘paint ships and the sea with greater authority’. This he certainly achieved, perfectly capturing the limpid first light of morning over the Port of Aden, the choppy rain-grey waters of the Bay of Biscay and a streak of sunlight through gathering storm clouds at dusk in Exeter. He became an Associate of the Royal Watercolour Society in 1931 and was a founder member, and later President, of the Royal Society of Marine Artists. During the Second World War, Muncaster served in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR) from 1940-44, training as a navigator before going on to advise on the camouflage of ships, and also worked as an official war artist. In ‘Still Morning at Aden’ (1944) he depicts Allied warships in this safe anchorage in the Middle East; the back is stamped with Admiralty approval. In 1946-7 he was commissioned by the Queen to produce watercolours of the royal residences at Windsor, Sandringham and Balmoral; the Duke of Edinburgh, in a foreword to a biography of Muncaster, recalls looking at these and considering the artist’s ‘unerring instinct for a subject’, his sense of atmosphere. Other commissions included large panoramas of the Thames and of Bradford. His career also included work as an etcher, illustrator, writer, lecturer and broadcaster, and his paintings can be found in the Royal Academy, Tate, National Maritime Museum Cornwall, National Railway Museum and Royal Air Force Museum. If you are interested email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. Conditon: Conservation mounted and wrapped in transparent sleeve for protection. Generally good condition. -
Claude Muncaster (1903-1974) Shap Farmhouse
Watercolour 19 x 29 cm Signed and inscribed to reverse. Here Muncaster records a farmhouse in the Market Town of Shap in Cumbria. This remote village has had a market charter since the seventeenth century. Claude Grahame Muncaster, RWS, ROI, RBA, SMA was the son of Oliver Hall RA. At the age of fifteen his career as a landscape painter began, and he soon took to the seas, spending the 1920s and 30s travelling the world with his sketchbook in a series of vessels. With the outbreak of war and he joined the RNVR training as a navigator. Having left school at fifteen his mathematics was very weak and it was a relief for all when his artistic talents meant he was recruited as a camofleur. A master of capturing seascapes he was therefore able to hide huge ships ‘in plain sight’ with clever disguises. After the war he painted for the Royal Family and was a frequent guest at Sandringham. Claude Muncaster was a watercolourist known for his landscapes and maritime scenes. He was born Grahame Hall, the son of the Royal Academician Oliver Hall who taught his son to paint from an early age; Grahame first exhibited his work aged 15 and a few years later was showing at the RA. However, he adopted the name Claude Muncaster in 1922 to dissociate his career from that of his father. Muncaster’s primary choice of subject matter came from a genuine love of the sea. He made several long-distance sea voyages, including one around the Horn as a deckhand in the windjammer Olivebank in 1931, which he described in ‘Rolling Round the Horn’, published in 1933. Armed with a sketchbook, his aim was to be able to ‘paint ships and the sea with greater authority’. This he certainly achieved, perfectly capturing the limpid first light of morning over the Port of Aden, the choppy rain-grey waters of the Bay of Biscay and a streak of sunlight through gathering storm clouds at dusk in Exeter. He became an Associate of the Royal Watercolour Society in 1931 and was a founder member, and later President, of the Royal Society of Marine Artists. During the Second World War, Muncaster served in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR) from 1940-44, training as a navigator before going on to advise on the camouflage of ships, and also worked as an official war artist. In ‘Still Morning at Aden’ (1944) he depicts Allied warships in this safe anchorage in the Middle East; the back is stamped with Admiralty approval. In 1946-7 he was commissioned by the Queen to produce watercolours of the royal residences at Windsor, Sandringham and Balmoral; the Duke of Edinburgh, in a foreword to a biography of Muncaster, recalls looking at these and considering the artist’s ‘unerring instinct for a subject’, his sense of atmosphere. Other commissions included large panoramas of the Thames and of Bradford. His career also included work as an etcher, illustrator, writer, lecturer and broadcaster, and his paintings can be found in the Royal Academy, Tate, National Maritime Museum Cornwall, National Railway Museum and Royal Air Force Museum. If you are interested email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. Condition: Conservation mounted and wrapped in transparent sleeve for protection. -
Claude Muncaster (1903-1974)
The Old George Inn South Cerney
Dated October 1952 to reverse Signed lower left and further signed to reverse Pencil and Watercolour 20x30cm Muncaster's watercolours capture the English countryside feel with great competence. Click here for biographical details and other works by the artist. If you are interested email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. -
Claude Muncaster (1903-1974)
Canal Foot Ulverston Canal
Signed and titled to reverse Inscribed Aug. 23rd (?) 1920 Pen and watercolour 19x29cm Muncaster's watercolours capture the English countryside feel with great competence. Here he records the old swing bridge across the lock at the foot of the now-derelict Ulverston Canal. It was Britain's straightest canal, running two miles from Morecambe Bay to Ulverston but has long stood unused. Click here for biographical details and other works by the artist. If you are interested email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. -
Out of stock
Sir Eduardo Paolozzi CBE RA (1924-2005)
'Foot of a Statue'
Plaster 9 x 19 x 13 cm Paolozzi’s fascination with anatomy, machine parts, and the idiom of classical statuary is evident in his modernist sculptural forms. Foot of a Statue suggests the foot of an ancient Colossus - severed from the rest of the body, it becomes a symbol of fragmentation, of a civilisation’s decline. Sir Eduardo Luigi Paolozzi CBE RA was a Scottish artist, known for his sculpture and graphic works. He is widely considered to be one of the pioneers of pop art. Paolozzi studied at the Edinburgh College of Art in 1943, briefly at Saint Martin's School of Art in 1944, and then at the Slade School of Fine Art at University College London from 1944 to 1947, after which he worked in Paris. While in Paris from 1947 to 1949, Paolozzi became acquainted with Alberto Giacometti, Jean Arp, Constantin Brâncuși, Georges Braque and Fernand Léger. This period became an important influence for his later work. For example, the influence of Giacometti and many of the original Surrealists he met in Paris can be felt in the group of lost-wax sculptures made by Paolozzi in the mid-1950s. Their surfaces, studded with found objects and machine parts, were to gain him recognition. He taught sculpture and ceramics at several institutions, including the Hochschule für bildende Künste Hamburg (1960–62), University of California, Berkeley (in 1968) and at the Royal College of Art. Paolozzi had a long association with Germany, having worked in Berlin from 1974 as part of the Berlin Artist Programme of the German Academic Exchange Programme. He was a professor at the Fachhochschule in Cologne from 1977 to 1981, and later taught sculpture at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Munich. Paolozzi was fond of Munich and many of his works and concept plans were developed in a studio he kept there, including the mosaics of the Tottenham Court Road Station in London. He took a stab at industrial design in the 1970s with a 500-piece run of the upscale Suomi tableware by Timo Sarpaneva that Paolozzi decorated for the German Rosenthal porcelain maker's Studio Linie. Condition: Generally very good, occasional inclusions etc., as expected. If you'd ike to know more, please email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. -
Brendan Neiland (b. 1941) RA (Expelled)
Leeds (1991)
Lithographic poster 101 x 71 cm Signed 'Brendan Neiland 1991' and inscribed 'to Alan best wishes', both in pencil. Proof copy poster complete with large margins and printer's colour bars etc, which can be hidden under mount when framed. Neiland is known for his interpretations of city life. His work is widely exhibited in major museums and galleries worldwide including, in Britain, the Victoria and Albert Museum, The Tate Gallery London, The Collections of the British Council and the Arts Council of Great Britain. He is represented by the Redfern Gallery and has had numerous shows internationally, including at the Galerie Belvedere in Singapore, who represent him in Singapore and the Far East. Reflected architecture is one of Neiland’s most recurring themes. Condition: very good. If you are interested, please email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. Click here for other works by Brendan Neiland. -
Brendan Neiland (b. 1941) R.A. (Expelled)
Waterloo International (1993)
Lithographic poster 101 x 60 cm Signed 'Brendan Neiland', numbered I/XII, and inscribed 'To Bob Reid' (Reid was Chairman of the British Railways Board from 1990 until 1995; he was present at Waterloo International Station prior to the opening of the Channel Tunnel). Neiland is known for his interpretations of city life. His work is widely exhibited in major museums and galleries worldwide including, in Britain, the Victoria and Albert Museum, The Tate Gallery London, The Collections of the British Council and the Arts Council of Great Britain. He is represented by the Redfern Gallery and has had numerous shows internationally, including at the Galerie Belvedere in Singapore, who represent him in Singapore and the Far East. Reflected architecture is one of Neiland’s most recurring themes. Condition: very good. If you are interested, please email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. Click here for other works by Brendan Neiland. -
Karl Hagedorn (1889 - 1969)
The Villa Malcontenta, Venice (1958)
Watercolour and ink 33 x 50 cm Signed and dated 1958 lower right (dated August 23rd to reverse). A watercolour of the Villa Malcontenta in Venice, nestled between willow trees. The River Brenta flows serenely in the foreground. Villa Foscari is a patrician villa in Mira, near Venice, northern Italy, designed by the Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio. It is also known as La Malcontenta ("The Discontented"), a nickname which - according to a legend - it received when the spouse of one of the Foscaris was locked up in the house because she allegedly did not live up to her conjugal duty. Karl Hagedorn was a painter and illustrator. He was educated in Berlin, and at the Manchester School of Technology, Manchester School of Art, and Slade School of Fine Art (where he later taught), before training in Paris under Maurice Denis. Hagedorn showed regularly at the Society of Modern Painters in Manchester, and then (from 1913 onwards), at the Royal Academy and the New English Art Club. He became a British citizen in 1914, and served in the British Army during World War I. During World War II, he sold pictures of military subjects to the United Kingdom Government's War Artists' Advisory Committee. He was also commissioned by the Recording Britain project to produce views of Middlesex and Derbyshire. Condition: very good. If you are interested, please email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. Click here for more Modern British painting. -
Falmouth, 1944 (unknown Modern British Artist)
Watercolour 46 x 30cm An evocative painting of Falmouth, the Cornish town shaped by its relationship to the sea. The artist leads us from the warm tones of the stone flags and empty buildings down towards a grey sea and a gently smouldering sky. Ships move in to the port, and a unit of pylons, starkly silhouetted, looks out over the bay. Condition: excellent. If you’d like to know more, please email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. -
Angela Stones (1914-1995) Westminster Bridge and the Houses of Parliament
Watercolour 31x41 cm Stones was a member of an artistic dynasty. Her mother Dorothy Bradshaw (1893-1983) studied under Jack Merriott - the artist famous for his British Rail posters, and her son, Christopher Assheton-Stones (1947-1999) was probably the foremost pastel artist of his time. If you are interested email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. Condition: Good. -
Angela Stones (1914-1995) Chelsea Old Church
Watercolour 31x41 cm Stones was a member of an artistic dynasty. Her mother Dorothy Bradshaw (1893-1983) studied under Jack Merriott - the artist famous for his British Rail posters, and her son, Christopher Assheton-Stones (1947-1999) was probably the foremost pastel artist of his time. If you are interested email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. -
Reclining Nude
Resin bronze 56 x 26 cm An enigmatic resin bronze sculpture of a reclining female nude. Condition: very good. If you are interested, please email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. Click here for other Modern British Sculpture. -
Sir Albert Edward Richardson K.C.V.O., F.R.I.B.A, F.S.A., P.R.A. (1880-1964)
Venice The Grand Canal Looking to the Salute
18x24cm Watercolour Initialled Sir Albert Edward Richardson K.C.V.O., F.R.I.B.A, F.S.A., P.R.A. (1880-1964) was a traditionalist, renowned for his distaste of modern architecture. Rooted firmly in the classical period, he lived a Georgian life, refusing to have electricity in his Georgian house – until his wife finally insisted. Professor of Architecture at UCL’s Bartlett School of Architecture from 1929-1955, this was evacuated to Cambridge during the war and he became a fellow of St Catharine’s College. Amongst his other achievements, Richardson was President of the RA, editor of Architect’s Journal and founder of the Georgian Group. For pleasure he painted architectural fantasies; capriccios of buildings he pictured in his mind. Richardson was recipient of the Architectural Association’s Professor Bannister Fletcher Medal in 1902 which was an award for the study of post-Fire London architecture. Amongst his achievements were Professor of Architecture at University College London, President of the RA, editor of Architect’s Journal and founder of the Georgian Group. Click here for other works by the artist and biographical details. Slight toning to paper. If you are interested email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. -
Henry Cliffe (1919-1983) Two Standing Nudes
Etching Mid 20th Century 27x25cm Click here for biographical details and other pictures by the artist. If you are interested email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. Condition: Good. -
Clifford Ellis (1907-1985)
Swallow
Pencil, 1950s 17.5x21.5 cm In a Nicholson butt-jointed frame Provenance: the family of the artist, by descent. Click here for biographical details and other works by the artist. Clifford and Rosemary Ellis were famous as a husband and wife team for their fascination with nature and their vibrant and charming depictions of animals. They were the natural artists to be commissioned by Collins for their 'New Naturalists' series of books, which have become famous and highly collectable more for the dust jackets designed by the Ellises than for the - otherwise excellent - content. This painting is from a recently discovered series of paintings and drawings, never before seen by the general public, dating from the 1940s and 1950s. Clifford and Rosemary wrote a series of illustrated books for young children including this one featuring Chico. Although never published they are now held by the Victoria Art Gallery in Bath. If you are interested email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. -
Sale!
Claude Muncaster (1903-1974) Farmstead and Trees
Dated Sept 1921 Signed on reverse with additional sketches of figures Watercolour 22x28cm Claude Grahame Muncaster, RWS, ROI, RBA, SMA was the son of Oliver Hall RA. At the age of fifteen his career as a landscape painter began, and he soon took to the seas, spending the 1920s and 30s travelling the world with his sketchbook in a series of vessels. With the outbreak of war and he joined the RNVR training as a navigator. Having left school at fifteen his mathematics was very weak and it was a relief for all when his artistic talents meant he was recruited as a camofleur. A master of capturing seascapes he was therefore able to hide huge ships ‘in plain sight’ with clever disguises. After the war he painted for the Royal Family and was a frequent guest at Sandringham. Claude Muncaster was a watercolourist known for his landscapes and maritime scenes. He was born Grahame Hall, the son of the Royal Academician Oliver Hall who taught his son to paint from an early age; Grahame first exhibited his work aged 15 and a few years later was showing at the RA. However, he adopted the name Claude Muncaster in 1922 to dissociate his career from that of his father. Muncaster’s primary choice of subject matter came from a genuine love of the sea. He made several long-distance sea voyages, including one around the Horn as a deckhand in the windjammer Olivebank in 1931, which he described in ‘Rolling Round the Horn’, published in 1933. Armed with a sketchbook, his aim was to be able to ‘paint ships and the sea with greater authority’. This he certainly achieved, perfectly capturing the limpid first light of morning over the Port of Aden, the choppy rain-grey waters of the Bay of Biscay and a streak of sunlight through gathering storm clouds at dusk in Exeter. He became an Associate of the Royal Watercolour Society in 1931 and was a founder member, and later President, of the Royal Society of Marine Artists. During the Second World War, Muncaster served in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR) from 1940-44, training as a navigator before going on to advise on the camouflage of ships, and also worked as an official war artist. In ‘Still Morning at Aden’ (1944) he depicts Allied warships in this safe anchorage in the Middle East; the back is stamped with Admiralty approval. In 1946-7 he was commissioned by the Queen to produce watercolours of the royal residences at Windsor, Sandringham and Balmoral; the Duke of Edinburgh, in a foreword to a biography of Muncaster, recalls looking at these and considering the artist’s ‘unerring instinct for a subject’, his sense of atmosphere. Other commissions included large panoramas of the Thames and of Bradford. His career also included work as an etcher, illustrator, writer, lecturer and broadcaster, and his paintings can be found in the Royal Academy, Tate, National Maritime Museum Cornwall, National Railway Museum and Royal Air Force Museum. Condition: generally good, few isolated spots to sky as can be seen in the magnified version of the picture. If you are interested email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. -
Sir Eduardo Paolozzi CBE RA (1924-2005)
Amphitheatre
Plaster 27 x 22 x 4 cm (max) Paolozzi’s fascination with anatomy, machine parts, and the idiom of classical statuary is evident in his modernist sculptural forms. Amphitheatre blends neoclassicism with 20th-century brutalism, betraying a fascination with the materiality of public architecture. Sir Eduardo Luigi Paolozzi CBE RA was a Scottish artist, known for his sculpture and graphic works. He is widely considered to be one of the pioneers of pop art. Paolozzi studied at the Edinburgh College of Art in 1943, briefly at Saint Martin's School of Art in 1944, and then at the Slade School of Fine Art at University College London from 1944 to 1947, after which he worked in Paris. While in Paris from 1947 to 1949, Paolozzi became acquainted with Alberto Giacometti, Jean Arp, Constantin Brâncuși, Georges Braque and Fernand Léger. This period became an important influence for his later work. For example, the influence of Giacometti and many of the original Surrealists he met in Paris can be felt in the group of lost-wax sculptures made by Paolozzi in the mid-1950s. Their surfaces, studded with found objects and machine parts, were to gain him recognition. He taught sculpture and ceramics at several institutions, including the Hochschule für bildende Künste Hamburg (1960–62), University of California, Berkeley (in 1968) and at the Royal College of Art. Paolozzi had a long association with Germany, having worked in Berlin from 1974 as part of the Berlin Artist Programme of the German Academic Exchange Programme. He was a professor at the Fachhochschule in Cologne from 1977 to 1981, and later taught sculpture at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Munich. Paolozzi was fond of Munich and many of his works and concept plans were developed in a studio he kept there, including the mosaics of the Tottenham Court Road Station in London. He took a stab at industrial design in the 1970s with a 500-piece run of the upscale Suomi tableware by Timo Sarpaneva that Paolozzi decorated for the German Rosenthal porcelain maker's Studio Linie. Condition: Generally very good, occasional inclusions etc., as expected. If you'd ike to know more, please email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056.
