Michael Lyne - Mid 20th Century Graphite Drawing, Hounds

Item Sold

Description

Michael Lyne - Original Mid 20th Century Graphite Drawing. In a green mount. Signed with monogram. In fine condition.

Michael Lyne (1912-1989) was one of the leading British sporting artists of the 20th Century. Stella Walker, the well known British Sporting art historian, said that "time will confirm that Michael Lyne ranks as one of the most important artists of his generation." His work stands alongside that of Alfred Munnings and Lionel Edwards.

Lyne was born in Upton Bishop, near Ross-on-Wye. From his earliest years he developed a deep love and understanding of hunting and field sports. He attended Cheltenham College of Art from 1932 and held his first public exhibition in that town in 1934. He quickly gathered commissions to paint local hunting scenes and by 1937 held his first exhibition in London. He was to hold regular sell-out exhibitions in London.

Lyne was a passionate huntsman and had his own pack of beagles, the United Cotswolds. He rode with the Devon and Somerset Staghounds and hunted regularly with the VWH. He painted many of the great hunts in the country including the Beaufort, Heythrop and Warwickshire. Frederick Warburg saw Lyne’s work in 1949 and invited him to paint several of the leading East Coast of America foxhound packs. He returned regularly to execute many commissions including a series of 10 paintings for Paul Mellon.

He also enjoyed steeple-chasing and point-to-point racing. From 1961 he made regular trips to Aintree to watch the Grand National, and from these visits came a series of dramatic and powerful paintings. He was a prolific book illustrator and regular contributor of illustrations and articles to Country Life and The Field.

Our collection comprises energetic graphite studies. Lyne constantly carried sketchbooks that he filled with rapid drawings, which he would then work up in a series of studies for his watercolours and oil paintings.