Sir Alfred James Munnings: Portraits of American Society

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In 1924, Sir Alfred James Munnings left England for his only trip to the United States, a whirlwind six-month itinerary he remembered as “gloriously mad days” full of painting and parties of the American elite (Sir Alfred Munnings, The Second Burst, London, 1951 p. 160). Munnings first visited New York, Washington and Pittsburgh, and later joined Frederick Prince and his family on their estate at Pride’s Crossing, Massachusetts, where he expanded his portrait commissions to their fellow members of South Hamilton’s Myopia Hunt Club – the first being Mr. and Mrs. Bayard Tuckerman. After painting his “New England friends,” Munnings visited Long Island, New York painting members of the Phipps, Whitney and Brady families, the latter of which commissioned this vibrant and elegant Portrait of Miss Ruth Brady on Bugle Call. This May, Sotheby’s European Art sale will offer several of Munnings’s prized portraits – click ahead to discover which and learn the stories behind these esteemed families. –Mark Buck

European Art
24 May | New York

Sir Alfred James Munnings: Portraits of American Society

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