"Why weren't you out Yesterday?"

by Sir Alfred Munnings

image size - 20x26 ins / 50x66 cms
paper size - 24x30 ins / 60x76 cms

Open Edition Print

Sir Alfred Munnings was a renowned British twentieth century artist who was especially celebrated for his horse racing and hunting scenes. Why Werent You Out Yesterday? was hung in the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition in 1939 and was one of two hundred and thirty pictures exhibited by Munnings in the Royal Academy throughout his successful career.

Why Werent You Out Yesterday? was based on a previously commissioned work entitled Mrs Helen Cutting and Misses Brady, which was exhibited in 1935 at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. This work proved to be highly successful and popular so Munnings altered the composition slightly for Why Werent You Out Yesterday? and he added personal and humorous attributes to the painting as the models were his wife, a female family-friend and four of his own home-bred horses. The female figures are elegantly dresses and depicted riding side-saddle which was the popular and conventional way for women to be seen to ride horses in the 1920s. Why Werent You Out Yesterday? was one of Munnings most treasured works for its personal and humorous elements along with the fantastic composition and emphasis on the fashion, elegance and style of fox-hunting in the twentieth century.