Munnings Art Museum

Brief

In Spring 2019, we had the pleasure of delivering the works of celebrated British painter Alfred Munnings for an exhibition, Behind the Lines: Alfred Munnings, War Artist 1918, at the Munnings Art Museum at Castle House, his former family home in Essex.

The exhibition explored works Munnings was commissioned to create by Max Aitken, Lord Beaverbrook in the final year of the First World War. His sketches, drawings and paintings depicting the Canadian Cavalry Brigade and the Canadian Forestry Corps, bought by the Canadian government, first went on display at London’s Royal Academy in 1919 and brought significant exposure to the artist. A century later, and the exhibition at the Munnings Art Museum marks this pivotal period in the artist’s career.

The 41 works on show, usually housed in the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa, were originally moved to the UK in late 2018 following significant frame restoration – did Gander & White organise this? – AB will ask Amanda about this. We were contacted by the Canadian War Museum’s loans registrar to tender our services in moving the artworks from their first temporary exhibition venue at the National Army Museum in London to their eventual destination at the Munnings Art Museum.

Solution

In March 2019, ahead of the start of the exhibition, we planned, organised and carried out the shipment of 41 artworks in 4ft x 4ft x 9ft custom-built crates to Essex. This required the handling of all necessary administration involved in holding an exhibition of internationally loaned works. We also obtained a tax suspension from the UK government’s National Import Reliefs Unit to cover the loan from the museum.

Our UK Museum Operations Director, Amanda Sharp, directed the project’s administration and practicalities and was in contact with the museum registrar in Canada and the team at Munnings Art Museum to facilitate all stages of the shipment from start to finish.

Challenges and opportunities

While there are unique complexities that come with delivering to what was formerly a family home (as opposed to delivering to a purpose-built museum or gallery), our experience working with private clients meant we were equipped to execute the delivery seamlessly. We skillfully navigated one of our 3.5-tonne vehicles through the narrow gate onto the Museum estate, moving it as close as possible to the Tudor and Georgian buildings. Carrying the crated works through some restrictive doors and corridors, we securely delivered the works to the exhibition space. Our art technicians often carry out the hanging of exhibitions for clients, but on this occasion, an art technician from the Canadian War Museum was on site to oversee the hanging of the works.