§ SIR TERRY FROST R.A. (BRITISH 1915-2003) UNTITLED

Signed and dated 'March '69' verso, oil on canvas (Dimensions: 51cm x 61cm (20in x 24in))

(51cm x 61cm (20in x 24in))

Footnote: Note: Sir Terry Frost was a key figure in twentieth century British abstract art. Lyon & Turnbull are delighted to offer this fantastic mid-career example of his output, dating to 1969. Though the 1950s perhaps represent the peak of the St Ives School’s influence, the 1960s were in fact arguably the strongest period of Frost’s artistic career. His work from this decade demonstrates an assured confidence and ease; tangible in his freer handling of the brush and an exploration of colour which was both subtler in terms of palette and bolder in his use of stark monochromatics. These extremely pared back but robustly solid forms are very much redolent of the work of Barbara Hepworth, for whom he had worked for an a studio assistant in the 1950s. However, the greatest influence detectable here is perhaps that of American Expressionists like Elsworth Kelly, who Frost was likely exposed to in America when he held an exhibition of his work at the Barbara Schaeffer Society in New York in 1960. Though works such as this embrace the purity of a minimalistic aesthetic, Frost’s work never strayed far from the inspiration of his natural surroundings, and many works from this period relate to objects such as Cornish fishing boats or the curves of a woman’s body.