About this lot
Description
§ § Claude Muncaster RWS, RBA, SMA, ROI (British 1903-1974)
On the edge of the Blue Mountains, Jamaica
signed 'CLAUDE MUNCASTER' (lower right); artist's label to the reverse
oil on canvas
100 x 116cm
Exhibited:
London, The Federation of British Artists, Miami Exhibition (3)
Footnote:
An enthusiastic sailor, Lieutenant Commander in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve and one of the principal maritime painters of the 20th century, Claude Muncaster was born Grahame Hall, in West Chiltington, Sussex, in 1903. The son of noted Landscape painter, Oliver Hall RA, Muncaster was tutored in painting from a young age, and, whilst the pair shared an aspiration “to carry on the best traditions of English painting”, in 1922 Muncaster changed his name to avoid any suggestion that his nascent career was indebted in any way to his father’s reputation. First exhibiting at the Royal Academy in 1921, Muncaster held his first solo exhibition in 1926 at the Fine Art Society, became a member of the Royal Watercolour Society in 1936 and was appointed President of the Society of Marine Artists in 1939.
Drawn impulsively towards the sea and aiming to ‘paint ships and the sea with greater authority’, Muncaster spent the 1920s and 1930s sailing around the world as a deckhand. In his sketchbooks and notepads, Muncaster documented all aspects of nautical life, from the ferocious storms and rugged shipmates to the lucent sunsets and balmy, tropical evenings. During the Second World War, he served in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, working as a navigator between 1940 and 1944, before being appointed as a naval camoufleur.
Condition report:
The canvas is in plane, but the tension is a little slack. There is some embedded dirt evident in the sky and clouds on the top left hand edge (see images) and a small hole in the canvas along the right hand edge. There are some minor surface accretions, very fine cracking to the paint layer in isolated areas, some yellowing to white passages of paint and some overall surface dirt. Otherwise in good order.
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