Sir Alfred James Munnings, P.R.A., R.W.S.

Leicester Galleries, London
Percy L. Halsted (acquired from the above in May 1938)
Private Collector, England (1956)
Thence by descent from the above (and sold: Sotheby's, London, June 14, 2001, lot 49, illustrated)
Richard Green, London
Acquired from the above
Private Collection

London, Royal Academy, A. J. Munnings, 1956, no. 162

The following condition report was kindly provided by Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc.: This painting is unlined. The paint layer is stable and has been fairly recently restored. Under ultraviolet light there are no restorations visible. The condition seems to be particularly good. The paint layer in the trees in the upper left is very thin. While it is tempting to identify this thinness as abrasion, it is actually an area where the artist thinned the paint layer intentionally and added a few brush strokes on top to indicate a lighter area of the tree here. The painting should be hung as is.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Newmarket, Cheltenham, Epsom, Kempton and Ascot: Munnings' name is synonymous with the great races he spent much of his life watching. He documented the events on both a commissioned basis, as was the case with Queen Mary's 1925 Ascot Procession crossing Windsor Great Park, or for his own personal pleasure, as with the larger version of Their Majesties' Return From Ascot (1925), which was subsequently purchased by the Chantrey Bequest for the Tate Gallery. Although Munnings is famous for his love of horses, the present work demonstrates that the entire race day experience that enthralled him  as much as the animals themselves. Ascotshows two young women studying a race card; the fashionable pair don wide-brimmed hats and drop-waisted and puff-sleeved dresses, their wraps and jackets warding off the chill of the late spring morning. There is a suggestion of a marker post behind the pair, in the distance to the right, but otherwise the racing action is incidental.  The quiet calm of the scene belies the busy activity of race days and the myriad inspirations for the artist.  Munnings described the challenge: "my mind became so full of all this brilliance, glitter and activity [of Ascot] that it was difficult to decide which, out of all that I had seen, would be the best arrangement for a picture... The low afternoon sun, the lengthening shadows, the tall elms not yet stricken by elm diseases (Sir Alfred Munnings, The Second Burst, Bungay, 1951, p. 270).

The spatial contrast of the two ladies (the woman in blue possibly Lady Munnings), placed against the extreme left as texpansive green grasses fill the rest of the picture space, evokes the fleeting spontaneity of this moment.  The viewer, like Munnings, has stumbled across the pair who are unaware of being observed and at any moment can walk away from view.  Such passing scenes of Ascot are brilliantly conveyed by the artist's technique. With an Impressionist's eye for the transient nature of color and light, Munnings captures the shifting sheens of light on swaying fabric, the tones shifting as they reflect or absorb sunlight, the ladies faces rosy red or blue-green beneathbtheir hat brims. The figures are connected to their environment though use of pigment, in which the red tones of a hat are repeated in the dusty shade under the trees, while the pale blue-white of a skirt echoes the cloudy tonality of the summer sky. Working en plein air, Munnings had to capture this elusive moment with active speed, rapidly applying thick layers of paint to construct the ladies' form and costume against the smooth, thinly painted lawns and trees. 

 The artist described his enjoyment of such "stolen" moments when he left his host at the stand in Ascot, saying: "' 'See, there are only three people against the wall opposite the winning post! Everyone is in the paddock trying to see the horses; let's go and stand by the wall.' None too soon we crossed the lawn and took our places in front of the low wall. The minutes fled. Too soon this great event would happen and the winners would be in the enclosure, and indeed they were: the parade, giving only moments to look at the card and then again passing horses and jockeys, the next already abreast of us, and always moving on and on. Then came the canter past... Such thrills are too soon over' (Sir Alfred Munnings, The Finish, Bungay, 1951, p.303).  In capturing these thrills, Munnings combines subject, sensation, and painterly technique to portray the beau monde with the same dynamism he brought to the world of stables, race courses, and hunting grounds.