Snaffles
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Charles "Snaffles" Johnson Payne (1884–1967) was an English painter known for his humorous work and for his outstanding draughtsmanship and depiction of the horse in action.


Style and subject matter

Snaffles specialised in water colours and drawings sold as prints which, at least initially, were hand-coloured by the artist and his sisters. His subject matter was invariably military, racing or hunting / equestrian scenes (polo, pig sticking), or some combination of these. Many of his most famous pictures contrast or combine military life with the peacetime pursuits of racing and hunting. These include: *"Pass friend" showing a fox sneaking past a Home Guard sentry; *"The Season 1939–1940" showing a mounted hunt making its way past an armoured unit on exercise on a narrow road, somewhere in England; *"Blighty – 'and only five and twenty percent of the danger'" showing a soldier jumping a hazardous fence and ditch out hunting; *"Once upon a time" showing a couple of soldiers, presumably in the cavalry (there is a light tank behind them), reminiscing about pre-war polo, racing and hunting. The
Grand National The Grand National is a National Hunt horse race held annually at Aintree Racecourse in Liverpool, England. First run in 1839, it is a handicap ...
features in a number of his pictures, including "The Grand National – the Canal Turn", "A National candidate" and arguably his most famous work: a pair of pictures showing "The finest view in Europe" (picture painted from the perspective of a hunt follower, looking over the ears of his mount, with hounds running and a number of hedges to jump) and "The worst view in Europe" (race horse and jockey are shown approaching a formidable fence in sheeting rain, with a loose horse to the subject's right possibly about to cut him up, and the back end of a further horse which has come to grief over the fence immediately in front of the subject. One assumes that the 'view' in question is that of the jockey – see below. It could conceivably be that of a racegoer / punter who has backed the inept and drunken jockey shown – the perspective shown in the picture is in fact that of the spectator, albeit observing the jockey looking at the fence ahead of him.) The vast majority of his racing pictures show point-to-pointing (i.e. amateur racing organised by the hunt to raise funds) rather than racing under rules. For example: *"Oh! To be in England now that April's here!" *"A bona fide fox hunter" *"A sight to take home and dream about" *"Prepare to receive cavalry" In each of these and many others there is one or more mounted person in hunt dress. The general background (pitched tents, running stream rather than artificial ditches) is indicative of a point-to-point course rather than a permanent racecourse. The title "Oh to be in England now that April's here!" specifically refers to the point-to-point season which in those days would have been at the end of the hunting season, i.e. spring. His most famous military scenes include a number of studies of different types of soldier fighting in the Great War, e.g. "Anzac" (Australian / NZ soldier), "Jock", "The Gunner", "The Canadian", "The DR" (dispatch rider) etc. Snaffles had a distinctive drawing style, often showing just one person in detail. In addition, his pictures are often recognisable from the use of (1) the incorporation of one or a number of sketches (often uncoloured) around the principal image (what is sometimes referred to as a remarque), and (2) some additional caption, often amusing, to supplement the picture's title and further explain the scene. The additional caption beneath the title of "The worst view in Europe" is "Oh Murther! The dhrink died out of me and the wrong side of Bechers." (In the UK, at the time, many jump jockeys were Irish which Snaffles was presumably trying to reference in his spelling of "mother" and "drink".
Becher's Brook Becher's Brook ( ) is a fence jumped during the Grand National, a National Hunt horse race held annually at Aintree Racecourse near Liverpool, England. It is jumped twice during the race, as the and fence, as well as on four other occasions du ...
is a famous fence at Aintree.) There is then a small sketch to the side, presumably depicting the sequel, showing a dismounted horse, its jockey unconscious on the floor. Two men stand by, one holding the horse and the other raising a flag to summon the doctor or warn the stewards that there has been a fall. In contrast to many hunting artists (
Lionel Edwards Lionel Edwards (9 November 1878 – 13 April 1966) was a British artist who specialised in painting horses and other aspects of British country life. He is best known for his hunting scenes but also painted pictures of horse racing, shootin ...
,
Alfred Munnings Sir Alfred James Munnings, (8 October 1878 – 17 July 1959) was known as one of England's finest painters of horses, and as an outspoken critic of Modernism. Engaged by Lord Beaverbrook's Canadian War Memorials Fund, he earned several prest ...
etc.), a high proportion of Snaffles's work showed individual hunting characters, sometimes inactive, as opposed to a large field sweeping over vale country. Early Snaffles includes a set of four "hunting characters": "Hogany tops", "The gent with horses to sell", "Blood and quality" and "Old tawney". In each case the character depicted is shown more or less immobile with a minimum of scenery. Similarly a later work, "Ansome is wot ansome does" shows a bespectacled hunt follower sitting still on a physically unprepossessing horse ("Ansome is -"), whilst the small sketch in the corner of the print shows the same horse and rider bounding effortlessly across a huge stream ("- wot ansome does").


Life

Snaffles was deemed too young to go to the
South African War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sout ...
but in 1902, at the age of 18, he enlisted as a gunner in the
Royal Garrison Artillery The Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA) was formed in 1899 as a distinct arm of the British Army's Royal Regiment of Artillery serving alongside the other two arms of the Regiment, the Royal Field Artillery (RFA) and the Royal Horse Artillery (RHA) ...
where, after lights-out, he used to read
Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British Raj, British India, which inspired much o ...
to his mates by candlelight in the barrack room. In the following years he developed his brilliant artistic skills and was able to leave the Army. By the time the First World War broke out, he was a frequent contributor to periodicals, such as the ''Sporting and Dramatic'', in the days before photography had become general. In the early part of the war, as an artist for ''
The Graphic ''The Graphic'' was a British weekly illustrated newspaper, first published on 4 December 1869 by William Luson Thomas's company Illustrated Newspapers Ltd. Thomas's brother Lewis Samuel Thomas was a co-founder. The premature death of the latt ...
'', he sketched many scenes from the front in France before entering the
Royal Naval Air Service The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was the air arm of the Royal Navy, under the direction of the Admiralty's Air Department, and existed formally from 1 July 1914 to 1 April 1918, when it was merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps t ...
as a rating Motor Mechanic in small coastal motorboats. Later he was commissioned as a Lieutenant RNVR, and joined the team under Norman Wilkinson engaged in designing camouflage for ships at sea, which involved trips in the
Northern Patrol The Northern Patrol, also known as Cruiser Force B and the Northern Patrol Force, was an operation of the British Royal Navy during the First World War and Second World War. The Patrol was part of the British "distant" blockade of Germany. Its ma ...
. In 1915 he married Lucy Lewin, who was born in Sydney, NSW, the daughter of a West Country owner-skipper of a trading brig whose wife, as was often the custom in those days, accompanied him; the ship happened to be in Sydney at the time. His artistic career continued between the wars, covering the sporting scene in England, Ireland and, particularly, in India. Apart from the sale of his sporting prints, he contributed to many magazines including ''
Punch Punch commonly refers to: * Punch (combat), a strike made using the hand closed into a fist * Punch (drink), a wide assortment of drinks, non-alcoholic or alcoholic, generally containing fruit or fruit juice Punch may also refer to: Places * Pun ...
''. He and Lucy lived just outside
Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildf ...
from 1925 until early in World War II. He helped with the camouflage of airfields, gasometers etc. and joined the
Home Guard Home guard is a title given to various military organizations at various times, with the implication of an emergency or reserve force raised for local defense. The term "home guard" was first officially used in the American Civil War, starting wi ...
. When their house was narrowly missed by a stick of bombs, they moved first to Somerset, then to Devon and eventually to
Orcheston Orcheston ) is a civil parish and village in Wiltshire, England, lying on Salisbury Plain less than a mile north-west of neighbouring Shrewton. The present-day parish combines the two former parishes of Orcheston St Mary and Orcheston St George ...
in Wiltshire, before buying Orchard Cottage, Hindon Lane,
Tisbury, Wiltshire Tisbury is a large village and civil parish approximately west of Salisbury in the English county of Wiltshire. With a population at the 2011 census of 2,253 it is a centre for communities around the upper River Nadder and Vale of Wardour. The ...
just after the war. His work was part of the painting event in the art competition at the
1932 Summer Olympics The 1932 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the X Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1932) were an international multi-sport event held from July 30 to August 14, 1932 in Los Angeles, California, United States. The Games were held duri ...
. Snaffles had a studio behind the house and although his most prolific painting days had passed, he still continued to sketch and turned his hand to producing a series of well-received books and also Christmas cards for his friends. He and Lucy were often to be seen on the footpaths around Fonthill with their dogs. Snaffles died in 1967, Lucy in 1980. They are both buried in
Fonthill Gifford Fonthill Gifford is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, to the north of the Nadder valley, west of Salisbury. History The name of the village and parish derives from the Giffard family, landowners, beginning with Berenger Giff ...
churchyard.


Confusion with ''Snaffle'' (Robert Dunkin)

Payne is not to be confused with Robert Dunkin, who used the pseudonym ''Snaffle'' when writing books on shooting large and small game, published between 1894 and 1914.


References


Further reading

* Welcome, John; Collens, Rupert (1987). ''Snaffles: the life and work of Charlie Johnson Payne, 1884–1967''. London: Stanley Paul. {{DEFAULTSORT:Snaffles 20th-century English painters English male painters British war artists World War I artists 1884 births 1967 deaths British humorists English watercolourists Olympic competitors in art competitions 20th-century English male artists