ON THE MARGE OF THE SUNSET, BENARES
signed Mortimer Menpes lower left; inscribed Benares beneath a label on the reverse
oil on panel, in the artist's original designed fluted panel frame with offset window
10 x 16.5cm; 4 x 6 1/2in
34.5 x 28.5cm; 13 1/2 x 11 1/4in (framed)

Property from a Private Collection, Hampstead

Exhibited
London, Dowdeswell & Dowdeswell's Galleries, Paintings, Drawings, Etchings and Diamond Points on Ivory of India, Burma and Cashmere, 1891, no. 102
The Cotman Gallery, Birmingham
The Graves Gallery, Birmingham
Adelaide, Art Gallery of South Australia, The World of Mortimer Menpes, Painter, Etcher, Raconteur, 2014, n.n. (illustrated in colour in the catalogue, pp. 59 & 195)

Menpes first visited India, Kashmir and Burma (now Mayanmar) in 1890, exhibiting the fruits of his travels in the spring of the following year in Paintings, drawings, etchings and diamond points on ivory, of India, Burma and Cashmere at Dowdeswell & Dowdeswell's gallery at 160 New Bond Street. In 1902 he returned again to India to cover the Delhi Durbar (see introduction). After completing his assignment, he travelled extensively in northern India, once again visiting Kashmir. His exhibition Paintings of India by Mortimer Menpes at Dowdeswell & Dowdeswell in 1905 coincided with the publication of Menpes in India which featured seventy five colour plates by the artist and text by Flora Annie Steel, an author noted for her writing on the Indian sub-continent.

The frame of this and the following lot reflects Menpes' fascination with Japonisme, the formative years he spent working with Whistler, and the influence in particular of his trip to Japan in 1887. Impressed with the high quality of Japanese craftsmanship on his travels through the country, he ordered two hundred frames to be sent back to England. On their arrival in London they were gilded by Frederick Henry Grau in his Fulham workshop (Grau's label is stuck to the reverse of the present lot). For a full discussion of Menpes' innovative frame designs visit www.theframeblog.com.

FIFTEEN WORKS BY MORTIMER MENPES (lots 1-15)

The rich variety of Mortimer Menpes' remarkable life could never be fully captured in just fifteen of his works. His interests ranged from sharp shooter (he shot for England) to market gardener, by way of artist, explorer, publisher, printer and self-confessed raconteur. But the following lots do give a lively sense of the extent of his travels, the range of his interests and his fascination with Japan in particular.

Menpes grew up in Port Adelaide, Southern Australia and moved to London in 1875 where he studied at The Government School of Design, South Kensington (now the Royal College of Art). In 1880, he met James McNeill Whistler which transformed his work and his social network. Together with Walter Sickert he worked as Whistler's studio assistant, accompanied the American artist on sketching trips and shared a flat with him in Chelsea. Greatly influenced by Whistler's aesthetic in particular his debt to Japonisme, Menpes visited Japan in 1887. He returned to London with material for his first major exhibition: Paintings, Drawings and Etchings of Japan which opened at Dowdeswell & Dowdeswell's, 160 New Bond Street in 1888.

Using small format panels that suited the intimacy of the subject matter, Menpes presented the works in stylised fluted frames that he had ordered from Japanese craftsmen (lots 1 & 2). He also hung the paintings close together in clusters on the gallery walls, reflecting the Japanese aesthetic for the careful placement of objects in space. However, Whistler was furious that Menpes had not acknowledged his influence, ceased communication, and bad-mouthed the younger artist in public. Despite Whistler’s ire, the exhibition marked the beginning of Menpes' collaboration with Dowdeswell & Dowdeswell's over the following two decades and his rise to fame and even greater fortune. Virtually every other year Menpes travelled to distant parts returning with material to be show, such as India, Burma, Kashmir, Italy, France, Morocco, Egypt and Mexico.

In 1898 Menpes engaged the architect A H Mackmurdo to construct a 'Japanese' house for he and his family at 25 Cadogan Gardens, Knightsbridge. Highly distinctive in its exterior design and with Japanese inspired and crafted interiors, the house became a magnet for hosting artistic soirees, social acceptance for Menpes which led to a succession of important portrait commissions. Sitters included Sarah Bernhardt, Sir Henry Irving and Arthur Conan Doyle.

In 1900 he was commissioned by the magazine Black and White Illustrated Weekly to accompany the City of London Imperial Volunteers as a war artist during the Boer War in South Africa. Two years later he returned to India to cover the Delhi Durbar - the coronation of King George VII, Emperor of India - for the Pall Mall Gazette, The Illustrated London News and Punch magazine. In London, in conjunction with the publishers A & C Black he pioneered a new form of illustrated travel book, printed in colour, and established a colour printing firm The Menpes Press.

Menpes first showed his work at the Royal Academy in 1880, he became a member of the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers in 1881, Royal Society of British Artists in 1885, Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours in 1897 and Royal Institute of Oil Painters in 1899.