SIR TERRY FROST R.A. (BRITISH 1915-2003) §
TWO FISH
£4,500
Auction: 27 November 2015 at 11:00 GMT
Description
Oil on canvas laid on board
Dimensions
24.5cm x 29.5cm (9.5in x 11.5in)
Footnote
Note: This was given as a gift by the artist to the current vendor's mother, a great friend of Terry Frost's wife, Kath.
The two paintings offered here, St. Ives (Lot 143) and Two Fish (Lot 142), date from a different time in Terry Frost's life; a moment of painting in his beloved St. Ives, before he moved into the bright colours and abstraction that would characterise the majority of his oeuvre.
Although interested and talented at drawing and painting from a young age, Terry Frost didn't get a chance to seriously pursue art, until he had time on his hands during four years as a Prisoner of War at Stalag 383. On his return to Britain, all he wanted, much to the surprise and frustration of his family, was to become an artist. Friends from the war supported his ambition, assisting in the pursuit of an ex-serviceman's grant and a place at Camberwell School of Art, as well as suggesting St. Ives as a place to live; beautiful, far from family and full of artists. It was this limbo period from 1945-47 and between arriving with his wife Kath in St Ives and before commencing schooling at Camberwell, that Terry spent time working on his painting and produced these two works. They show a clear technical ability and energy preceding his later pre-occupation with bright colours and energetic abstraction.
Both works were gifted to the current vendor's mother, a close friend of Kath, during a friendship that lasted for both of their lives. They have remained in the family ever since, have never been exhibited and only recently returned to the U.K. after a period abroad.