Lot 424 , § Sir Alfred Munnings (1878-1959) Showman dancing with horses 7 x 5in.

§ Sir Alfred Munnings (1878-1959)
pen and ink
Showman dancing with horses
on the artist's letterhad paper
7 x 5in.
Estimate £300-500

Provenance; Fred Cleary (Flowering Fred) C.B.E, then by descent.
Cropped to the right side, paper acid stained where it has sat in a mount. Small hole at 4 o'clock. Not mounted or framed.

The Munnings museum have commented;
The drawing is, in fact, a self-portrait of Munnings himself dancing with horses.

The address on the top of the sketch, and the nature of the subject, points to it being done during the Second World War when Munnings and his wife, Violet lived at Withypool, Exmoor.

We have over 100 similar sketches in our collection. Munnings used them sort of as a signature to give away to friends and acquaintances. Most of them came about between 1944 and 1952 when Munnings was working in a similar way to produce designs for the dustjackets for his 3 volume autobiography: An Artist's Life, The Second Burst and The Finish. This sketch most closely resembles designs for The Second Burst.

I have attached a similar sketch from our collection for comparison.

https://auction.gorringes.co.uk/auction-lot-detail/LSEPT20/424




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Sold for £1,100