Bernard Meninsky

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Bernard Meninsky
April 1926
Born
Bernard Menushkin

(1891-07-28)28 July 1891
Konotop, Tchernigov, Ukraine
Died12 February 1950(1950-02-12) (aged 58)
Education
Known forPainting

Bernard Meninsky (25 July 1891 – 12 February 1950) was a figurative artist, painter of figures and landscape in oils, watercolour and gouache, draughtsman and teacher.[1]

Biography

Early life and education

Meninsky was born in Konotop, Ukraine, where his father was a tailor and the family were Yiddish speaking Russian Jews. They moved to Liverpool when Bernard was six weeks old. The family name was apparently 'Menushkin'.[2][3]

Although Meninsky left school at the age of eleven, his talent for art led to the sale of a comic postcard design to Appelbaums.[4] Whilst working as an errand boy during the day, he attended free classes in art in the evenings and this enabled him to gain a place at the Liverpool School of Art. He studied there from 1906-1911, being financed by a succession of scholarships. He attended summer courses at the Royal College of Art London in August 1909 and August 1910. In 1911 Meninsky won a scholarship to study at the Académie Julian in Paris for three months.[5]

The Slade School and after

Black and white reproduction of 'Two Women and a Child' 1913

Supported by a fifty pound grant raised by the Liverpool Jewish community and adminstrated by the Jewish Educational Aid Society, Meninsky was able to study at the Slade School of Fine Art in London in 1912.[6] Meninsky's contemporaries included David Bomberg, Isaac Rosenberg, Jacob Kramer plus William Roberts, who would become a life long friend and later a colleague at the Central School of Arts and Crafts. Another important contact Meninsky made at this time was Walter Sickert who hosted 'At Homes' for Slade and ex-Slade in his Fitzroy Street studio.[7]

In the autumn of 1912 Roger Fry's Second Post-Impressionist Exhibition opened at the Grafton Galleries, London and was seen by the public as scandalous in its modernism. Meninsky's tutors at the Slade, Henry Tonks and Wilson Steer, also rejected the cubist work on display at the Grafton.[8] Whilst Bomberg and Roberts would go on to explore their own brand of 'English Cubism' in their immediate post-Slade years, Meninsky 'had been bowled over most completely by the greatness of Cezanne.'[9]

In 1913 Meninsky left the Slade to work as a 'pupil/teacher' for Edward Gordon Craig at his theatre school in Florence for a few months.[10] Returning to London, he began teaching life drawing at the Central School of Arts and Crafts.[11] The principal of the Central, F.V Burridge, had previously been head of the Liverpool School of Art, when Meninsky had been a prize winning student there. Teaching would be a passion of Meninsky's and his relationship with the Central School would be important to him throughout his life.[12]

World War I

In the summer of 1914 Meninsky's work was exhibited in the 'Jewish Section' of 'Twentieth-Century Art - a review of Modern Movements' at the Whitechapel Art Gallery in London's East-end.[13] During World War I Meninsky exhibited with the New English Art Club, The Friday Club and, from November 1916, with The London Group - an organisation that he would be associated with throughout his career.[14][15][16]

Early in 1918 it may have become apparent that his girlfriend, Margaret O'Connor was pregnant. He had been called up as a private in the Royal Fusiliers and enlisted in January 1918.[17] Meninsky and O'Connor married at Marylebone Registry Office in the first quarter of 1918.[18]

The Arrival of the Leave Train 1918

Meninsky worked in a clerical capacity in the Royal Fusiliers. Meninsky applied to be released from military service to be a war artist, under a scheme run by the British War Memorials Committee, BWMC, for the Ministry of Information. His request was supported by Walter Sickert and he was released for an initial four month period from May 1918.[19] While working as a war artist, Meninsky was discharged from military service, in August 1918, due to neurasthenia.[20] In the summer of 1918, shortly after Meninsky's 'Certificate of [UK] Naturalization' came through[21]his son, David was born.[22]

The Ministry of Information 'employed' Meninsky under the BWMC's 'scheme two' whereby artists would be paid £300 per annum, plus any military pay they were receiving, in return they would be required to turn over their entire output for six months. During this time they would be allowed no outside work at all, including teaching.[23] Meninsky completed the large scale painting The Arrival of a Leave Train, Victoria Station, 1918 for the proposed Hall of Remembrance and at least five other related works before the end of the year. These works are now in the Imperial War Museum collection.

Mother and Child

The Red Hat - a portrait of Margaret Meninsky when she was pregnant with their second child, 1919

After the war ended Meninsky resumed teaching at the Central School and also accepted Walter Sickert’s invitation to take over his life class at the Westminster School of Art with the artist Nina Hamnett.[24] When it came to light that Meninsky was still on the BWMC ‘contract’ he was required to extend his involvement with the war art scheme for a further period.[25]

In the first few months of his son’s life Meninsky created a portfolio of 28 ‘mother and child’ drawings in a variety of media: pencil; ink and wash; watercolour – a subject that became a recognisable motif throughout his career. When Meninsky was elected to the London Group in 1919, he exhibited an oil painting on this subject at their 10th Exhibition in April 1919[26]

Margaret (‘Peggy’) Meninsky [27] was pregnant again and their second son, Philip, was born in November 1919.[28]

In December Meninsky got his highest profile exhibition when The Arrival of a Leave Train, Victoria Station, 1918 was shown at the National Gallery, London alongside work by other war artists under the BWMC scheme.[29]

The mother and child drawings had been picked up by the publisher John Lane and in 1920 the book launch of Mother and Child : Twenty Eight Drawings by Bernard Meninsky was promoted with a solo exhibition of the drawings at the Goupil Gallery, Regents Street, London.[30].

Later life

In 1923 Meninsky was elected to the New English Art Club (NEAC). During the twenties he was associated with the bohemian Bloomsbury Group and the Garman sisters. In 1935 he designed sets for the ballet 'David' for the Markova–Dolin Company. In the Second World War he moved to Oxford City School of Art, and returned to the Central School in 1945. He illustrated the 1946 volume of John Milton's poems L'Allegro and Il Penseroso. In February 1949 he was featured on the cover of the first ever issue of ArtReview, then titled Art News and Review. The profile noted "Using a palette which owes something to the Fauves, and through them to the Expressionists, he has created a world of classical dignity and plastic form." Meninsky suffered from mental illness for much of his life and committed suicide in 1950.

A Meninsky memorial exhibition was organised by the Arts Council in 1951–52, and a retrospective show was staged at the Adams Gallery in 1958. His works are on show at the Arts Council, British Museum, Imperial War Museum, National Gallery of Ireland, Tate Gallery, Victoria and Albert Museum, and galleries in Hull, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Nottingham and Sheffield.[31]

References

  1. ^ Special Collections, The University Library. "Bernard Meninsky". Leeds University. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
  2. ^ John Russell Taylor 'Bernard Meninsky, Redcliffe Press 1990, pages 9-10
  3. ^ In the UK census for 1901 and 1911 the family are called Meninsky and this is the name that Bernard's parents, Isaac and Annie used when applying for UK citizenship in June 1915 ref: Naturalisation Certificates and Declarations, 1870-1916 Ancestry.com. In the 1901 census Bernard is shortened to 'Barney' and he is listed as being born in Liverpool. In the 1911 census, Bernard completes the census form and puts his nationality as 'Russian'. This is consistent with his need to apply for UK nationalisation in 1918. His younger sisters are listed as being born in Liverpool.
  4. ^ John Russell Taylor, 1990, page 10
  5. ^ 'He later recalled crying in misery in Paris because he missed his family so much' John Russell Taylor, 1990, page 16
  6. ^ Monica Bohm-Duchen in A Singular Vision - drawings and paintings by Bernard Meninsky, published by University of Liverpool and the Contemporary Art Society, 2001, page 24.
  7. ^ Matthew Sturges 'Walter Sickert - a Life', Harper Perennial, 2005 page 481
  8. ^ Anna Gruetzner Robins 'Modern Art in Britain 1910-1914 London: 1997, pgs 64-107
  9. ^ John Russell Taylor, 1990, p.57
  10. ^ John Russsell Taylor, 1990. Page 31
  11. ^ Backemeyer et al.'Object Lessons: Central Saint Martins Art and Design Archive'. Lund Humphries, London, 1996
  12. ^ John Russell Taylor, 1990, p.33
  13. ^ Anna Gruetzner Robins 'Modern Art in Britain 1910-1914', Merrell Holberton, London 1982 Pages 139-144
  14. ^ "New English Art Club".
  15. ^ "Friday Club | Artist Biographies".
  16. ^ Sarah MacDougall | The Early Years of The London Group, 1913-28 in 'Uproar! The First 50 Years of the London Group 1913-63' edited by Sarah MacDougall and Rachel Stratton, Lund Humphreys, 2013
  17. ^ Ancestry.co.uk 'UK, British Army World War I Pension Records 1914-1920’
  18. ^ Marriage of Margaret O’Connor to Bernard Meninsky Jan-Feb-Mar 1918 Marylebone Registry Office ref. Ancestry.co.uk. 'England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916-2005'
  19. ^ Imperial War Museum, London. Archive. https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1050000333
  20. ^ Ancestry.co.uk 'UK, British Army World War I Pension Records 1914-1920’. n.b. John Russell Taylor in 'Bernard Meninsky',1990, page 35 claims that Meninsky signed up in 1914 till mid 1918.
  21. ^ 1st July 1918 Ref.https://www.tate.org.uk/art/archive/items/tga-8225-1-1-2/british-home-office-photocopy-of-certificate-of-naturalization
  22. ^ Ancestry.co.uk 'England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1916-2007'.
  23. ^ Richard Cork (1994). A Bitter Truth - Avant Garde Art and the Great War. Yale University Press & The Barbican Art Gallery.
  24. ^ Matthew Sturgis Walter Sickert – A Life Harper Perennial, London, 2005, page 504
  25. ^ Imperial War Museum archive: https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1050000333
  26. ^ The Tenth Exhibition of the London Group 12 April-17 May 1919, The Mansard Gallery at Heals, London. This oil painting ‘Mother and Child’ is thought to be the work in the University of Leeds art collection and is reproduced in 'Uproar! The First 50 Years of the London Group 1913-63' edited by Sarah MacDougall and Rachel Stratton, Lund Humphreys, 2013, page 98
  27. ^ ‘usually known as Peggy’ Ref. John Russell Taylor, 1990, p.36
  28. ^ Ancestry.co.uk: ‘England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1916-2007’ shows Philip Meninsky to be registered in Fulham in last quarter of 1919. ‘England and Wales, Death Index, 1989-2021’ clarifies his birth date as 1st November 1919.
  29. ^ National Gallery, Dec 1919 – Feb 1920
  30. ^ The Goupil Gallery had been closed throughout the war and reopened with a ‘mixed moderns’ show from the end of November 1918. Meninsky’s ‘Mother and Child’ exhibition was reviewed in the ‘’Westminster Gazette’’ 20 May 1920. The book was advertised in Westminster Gazette 9 April 1920
  31. ^ 75 artworks by or after Bernard Meninsky at the Art UK site. Retrieved 2 December 2013.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bernard Meninsky.
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