The Frozen River, Flatford, Suffolk
Alfred Munnings was apprenticed to a printer in Norwich at the age of 14 and attended the Norwich School of Art in his free time. When his apprenticeship ended, he became a fulltime painter. Munnings is known as having been one of England’s finest painters of horses and, as an outspoken critic of Modernism, his appointment as President of the Royal Academy in 1944 turned out to be very controversial. In a drunken after-dinner speech, which was being broadcast live, he berated the art establishment and ranted against modern art, including ‘those foolish daubers, Cézanne, Matisse and Picasso’ whose influence had defiled the British tradition. While he received considerable public support, he was ostracised from the art world and resigned the presidency to make ‘a joyous return to painting’.
The Russell-Cotes Curator, Norman Silvester writing in the 1954 Russell-Cotes Bulletin described this painting as ‘a subtle masterpiece’ and was ‘jubilant’ that it had ‘escaped export’ and been secured for Bournemouth.
