SIR ALFRED MUNNINGS AND EDWARD SEAGO: EAST ANGLIAN ARTISTS

SIR ALFRED MUNNINGS AND EDWARD SEAGO: EAST ANGLIAN ARTISTS

Munnings and Seago inherited a strong tradition of painting in East Anglia, notably in the work of Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788) and John Constable (1776-1837). Munnings was born in Mendham on the Suffolk-Norfolk border in 1878; Seago in 1910 in Norwich. Both travelled widely and gained Royal patronage, but their hearts lay in the gently-rolling countryside of their birthplace, with its wheatfields, marshes, medieval churches and huge skies. Munnings spent his last forty years living in Dedham on the river Stour. After many wanderings, Seago settled after the Second World War at Ludham on the Norfolk Broads.

Alfred Munnings gained fame from his racing scenes and portraits of celebrated racehorses, but always revelled in the freedom and exhilaration of painting landscapes. Just like John Constable, he preferred those scenes most familiar to him: views round Dedham, such as the river and mill pond, or the lonely sweep of Exmoor where he had a second home. These works are uncluttered and bold.

In 1929, as a nineteen-year-old prodigy with his first Bond Street exhibition, Seago sought out Munnings’s advice on his career and gained much generous practical help. At that time he was painting country scenes and horses in emulation of Munnings. In his mature career, however, Seago concentrated almost entirely upon landscape. He distilled the essence of the East Anglian countryside: vast, solid white cumulus clouds spiralling above summer fields; sandy beaches below low, crumbling cliffs; church towers seen in the distance. Seago shared with Munnings an instinct for refining a beloved landscape to its most characteristic elements.