Bernard Meninsky 1891-1950
Bathers Resting c.1936
oil on canvas
15¾ x 33¾ ins


Provenance
Private collection, UK

Literature
J. Russell Taylor, Bernard Meninsky, Bristol, 1990, p.101



Although not specifically dated, the present work appears to belong to the group of paintings Meninsky produced during the war years and, in the evocation of a pastoral Golden Age, have a good deal in common in spirit rather than appearance with the work of his younger neo-romantic contemporaries. However, whilst the influences on the younger painters such as John Minton and Michael Ayrton were derived in part from Samuel Palmer, Meninsky’s inspirations were more recent.

The most obvious is perhaps Picasso, whose monumental neo-classical figure paintings of the 1920’s were a significant influence, but we can equally detect a knowledge of both Cezanne and Poussin informing the work of the late 1930’s & early 1940’s. However, Meninsky’s use of such motifs and mannerisms provided an end result which is extremely distinctive, and in his calm evocations of an Arcadian idyll we see an art at odds with the mental turmoil which was beginning to overcome him.