About this lot
Description
§ § Claude Muncaster, RWS, RBA, SMA, ROI (British 1903-1974)
A South Pacific Blow
signed 'CLAUDE MUNCASTER' (lower right)
oil on canvas
74.5 x 49.5cm;
together with Martin Muncaster, The Wind in the Oak, Robin Garton, London, 1978, No.17/100 copies, signed by author to half title, and matching looseleaf folio of 12 etchings, the 2 volumes contained within a slipcase; Martin Muncaster,The Wind in the Oak, Robin Garton, London, 1978; Claude Muncaster, Rolling Round the Horn, Rich & Cowan, London, 1935 (4)
Footnote:
Literature:
Martin Muncaster, The Wind in the Oak, London, Robin Garton, cover illustration
Exhibited:
Liverpool Guildhall, Society of the Marine Artists, 1947
Described by Muncaster’s son, Martin, as “one of [Muncaster’s] finest marine paintings”, the present lot was presumed lost for several decades, after having been exhibited in 1947. Used as the cover illustration for Martin Muncaster’s 1978 biography of his father, in 1979, possibly a result of the publicity surrounding the book, the painting re-emerged. Thought to have been painted in 1931 on a voyage aboard the Olive Bank from Melbourne to England, chronicled by Muncaster in his 1933 publication Rolling Round the Horn, the present lot, with its deftly observed matrix of rigging and dynamic canted angle, is demonstrative of both Muncaster’s lived experience and his comprehensive maritime knowledge.
Condition report:
The paint layer is stable overall. There are areas of slightly raised paint near the left centre by the figures climbing the ropes. Canvas tension is a little slack. There is damage to the slip of the frame upper right - please see images.
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