JOHN BERNARD MUNNS
ENIGMA
Lot #128 |
2020-06-12 |
Sotheby's, London
European Art: Paintings & Sculpture
Category:
Painting
Estimate:
GBP 15,000 - 20,000 (currency of sale)
USD 18,913 - 25,217 (approx.)
Price Sold:
Auction Details
Auction house: Sotheby's
Auction number: L20107
Auction name: European Art: Paintings & Sculpture
Auction type: Fine Art
Location: London
Start date: 2020-06-12
End date: 2020-06-18
Currency: GBP
Source:
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Lot Description
Details
Genre: European Art
Department: Painting & Works on Paper
Medium: Login to view
Dimensions: 48.3 by 40.7cm.
Item measurements:
Height In Centimeters:
48.3
Width In Centimeters:
40.7
Height In Inches:
19
Width In Inches:
16
Signed: Login to view
Provenance
Christie's, London, 3 June 1994, lot 146; Bonhams, Knightbridge, 2 March 2017, lot 79 Catalogue note Munns, who lived all his life in Edgbaston, belonged to a dynasty of Birmingham artists, being the son of one painter and the father of another. Taking a break from bread-and- butter portraits of grandees (amongst them the Prince of Wales, Lord Norton, Thomas Beecham, and Sir Thomas Hood) and of Birmingham worthies, Munns painted two Belliniesque subject pictures for his own purposes: Enigma in 1923 and Fantasy ,
Exhibited
in the Royal Academy in 1925. In this he was influenced by the example of the slightly older Birmingham artist Joseph Southall, also a resident of Edgbaston, whose wife often sat to him in a variety of Medieval settings and costumes, against Italianate backdrops. The sitter here is likely to have been Munns’ 23-year-old daughter Una, who designed jewellery.
Catalog summary
JOHN BERNARD MUNNS 1869 - 1942 ENIGMA signed and dated l.l.: Bernard Munns 1923 ; further signed, dated, titled and inscribed with the artist's address on the verso oil on canvas 48.3 by 40.7cm., 19 by 16in. To view Shipping Calculator, please click here Provenance Christie's, London, 3 June 1994, lot 146; Bonhams, Knightbridge, 2 March 2017, lot 79 Catalogue note Munns, who lived all his life in Edgbaston, belonged to a dynasty of Birmingham artists, being the son of one painter and the father of another. Taking a break from bread-and- butter portraits of grandees (amongst them the Prince of Wales, Lord Norton, Thomas Beecham, and Sir Thomas Hood) and of Birmingham worthies, Munns painted two Belliniesque subject pictures for his own purposes: Enigma in 1923 and Fantasy , exhibited in the Royal Academy in 1925. In this he was influenced by the example of the slightly older Birmingham artist Joseph Southall, also a resident of Edgbaston, whose wife often sat to him in a variety of Medieval settings and costumes, against Italianate backdrops. The sitter here is likely to have been Munns’ 23-year-old daughter Una, who designed jewellery.