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Lot Essay
Munnings painted Point-to-Point meetings and riders throughout his career. The present work, A Point-to-Point Rider, was probably painted during the period that Munnings lived in Cornwall but the identity of the model is not known. The tree-less moors and bleak landscape of Cornwall offered a strong contrast to his native East Anglia and provided dramatic backdrops for his pictures.
A label on the reverse of the picture, possibly linked to an exhibition, gives the artist's address as the Chelsea Arts Club. Munnings used the club as a second home and ate most of his meals there, being conveniently located near his studio in Glebe Place. Munnings lent a number of his pictures to the club where members work was hung. Munnings was extremely popular in the club but he had acquired a vocabulary that enabled him, it was said, to swear for a full ten minutes without repeating himself. In 1919 he was suspended from the club for using bad language in front of the staff. Munnings simply switched his allegiance to the Café Royal in Piccadilly which was also a popular hang-out with artists.
Another label on the reverse of the present work indicates that it passed through the hands of the Scottish art dealers, Tom and Jim Connell. The Connells who had a gallery in Bond Street in London and another in Renfield Street, Glasgow were important patrons of the artist. After the Royal Academy exhibition of 1919 for which Munnings had three pictures accepted, the Connells bought a group of paintings directly from the artist's studio in Chelsea. It is likely that this picture was among them.
A label on the reverse of the picture, possibly linked to an exhibition, gives the artist's address as the Chelsea Arts Club. Munnings used the club as a second home and ate most of his meals there, being conveniently located near his studio in Glebe Place. Munnings lent a number of his pictures to the club where members work was hung. Munnings was extremely popular in the club but he had acquired a vocabulary that enabled him, it was said, to swear for a full ten minutes without repeating himself. In 1919 he was suspended from the club for using bad language in front of the staff. Munnings simply switched his allegiance to the Café Royal in Piccadilly which was also a popular hang-out with artists.
Another label on the reverse of the present work indicates that it passed through the hands of the Scottish art dealers, Tom and Jim Connell. The Connells who had a gallery in Bond Street in London and another in Renfield Street, Glasgow were important patrons of the artist. After the Royal Academy exhibition of 1919 for which Munnings had three pictures accepted, the Connells bought a group of paintings directly from the artist's studio in Chelsea. It is likely that this picture was among them.