Gilbert Munger's quest for distinction

Magazine Antiques, July, 2003 by Michael D. Schroeder, J. Gray Sweeney

John Ruskin (1819-1900) encouraged Munger to paint Venice, which he did on a trip there in l882. (15) A dozen of the Venetian paintings were shown at the Fine Arts Society in London upon his return in November, including probably San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice (P1. IX). Munger's selection of subjects reflected the ideas of Ruskin and Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851) of a cultural tourist's pilgrimage. In most of his paintings of Venice, Munger carefully excluded all signs of the modem age.

Entirely self-supporting from his artistic production, Munger sold through fashionable London art dealers as well as directly to collectors. His paintings were hung on the line at the Royal Academy there and were favorably reviewed. He even wrote a play that was produced at the Haymarket Theatre in 1886. Monarchs and museums bestowed honors on him (see Fig. 1). In keeping with the custom of successful professional artists in London in the 1880s, he dressed as a gentleman and maintained an impressive studio near New Bond Street in the most fashionable district, where old friends from the United States found him "in a most prosperous condition." (16)

Munger also returned to producing prints in London. One review noted: "The Burlington Fine Arts Society has taken Mr. Munger up and he is now overwhelmed with orders for etchings.... The etchings are sold at high prices, yet secure a very large sale." (17) Few examples of Munger's etchings are currently known, among them a simple landscape and The Herring Fleet (Fig. 2), but the press reports of the time suggest that additional examples will be discovered as the artist's name becomes better known. (18)

In London Munger's paintings became increasingly poetic and nostalgic following the trend toward the Barbizon style, although he never wavered from his commitment to painting on the spot--en plein air. During his European period his primary market remained in London, but he found England damp and cloudy so in 1886 he moved to France where he worked mostly around Paris. The forest preserve of Fontainebleau, just a short train ride away was a favorite subject of the Barbizon artists and a popular destination for tourists. Munger's depiction of ancient trees in French Forest Scene (Pls. I, XIII) presents with a clarity reminiscent of his earlier American works a brightly lit, detailed portrait of a great tree, within a typical Barbizon composition. In Seine near Poissy (P1. XI), another Barbizon example, a row of imposing trees is suspended in a luminous surround of water and air Such effects of light, which are not common in Barbizon painting, also reflect Munger's American experience. The small houseboat tied to the river's edge is probably Munger's field studio, an arrangement he adopted in Europe in order to maximize his painting time out of doors. He first used a field studio in Scotland in 1877, where he managed to keep painting despite the "drenching rair" by working inside a seven-foot-square collapsible wooden box with a picture window, which he hauled around by wagon to picturesque locations. (19) Later, on the Thames River he used a "miniature Noah's ark" in which he completed large canvases, "painting in rain or shine." (20)