International studio (50.1913)

A. J. Munnings

earliest memories are connected with drawing
horses and animals. When he left school he went
to Norwich with the idea of going in for litho-
graphic poster work; here he studied at the Norwich
School of Art for six years, going through the
Kensington routine—antique and life.
But the cattle hill and the horse sales drew him,
as did the country horse sales. The horses on
the Norwich cab-stands were also his models,
and one can fancy the cabmen standing round the
lad as he drew their horses; one can imagine their
criticisms and their wit. He also studied the
anatomy of the horse, both from Stubbs’s horse pic-
tures and at the kennels of the Norwich staghounds;
the veterinary surgeons of the city also became
his friends and were, no doubt, very useful to him.
He frequented the company of dealers and jobbers,
and he seems to have distilled from their society a
virtue which they themselves probably did not
suspect. Anyhow he says : “ I positively love a
‘ pub ’ full of these characters—drinking, singing,

and smoking ; the sun outside on everything—tents,
oranges, brightly painted caravans; and horses
running up and down. I love to watch it ” ; but, he
adds, “ to work spoils the fun.” This shows how
little an artist knows when his work is a-doing.
He also went for some time with a circus, riding
his horse from place to place. It has always
seemed to me that, for an artist equipped as Mr.
Munnings is, there are few richer fields to exploit
than that offered by the circus. The nomadic life
of the strange medley of artistes, their wanderings
through town and country, must give opportunities
which are unique. The caravans filing through the
summer landscape, the great eastern creatures
padding with silent footsteps through English
villages, the encampments with horses and ponies
gathered round bundles of hay, the sun gleaming
through the canvas stables on skewbalds or piebalds,
the faces of the curious yokels at the door, smitten
by the bright light outside, the gaily painted
chariots glittering with gold, the great tent itself


BY A. J. MUNNINGS
259

“in the stream”