Flowers Gallery is delighted to announce an upcoming exhibition of paintings from the Estate of the late Sir Terry Frost (1915-2003) and the Gallery’s representation of the Estate. The exhibition will take place at Flowers Gallery, Cork Street from 10th April to 11th May and will feature an extensive collection of Frost’s most compelling paintings from 1966 – 2003.
Frost’s unique introduction to painting began in a German prisoner of war camp in World War Two, inspired by fellow Prisoner or War and 20th century British painter Adrian Heath (1920-1922). Frost credited his imprisonment to his ‘heightened perception’ of the world, which motivated him to pursue an artistic career. Later becoming a pioneering figure within the St Ives group of British modernists, Frost’s career spanned over six decades.
(1915-2003)Suspended Colour Collage, 1968-70
Acrylic and collage on canvas
101.6 x 106.7 cm
40 x 42 in
(AFG 62904)
Frost’s colour palette was inspired by his surrounding world in both extraordinary and more domestic places such as the sun and moon in Cyprus to the designs of lorry fronts whilst living in Banbury in the 1960s. His unique abstraction draws from motion and gesture, forming his signature symbols of crescents, spirals and semi circles.
Frost’s early paintings reflect upon the surrounding landscapes and scenes of the Cornish seaside and the Yorkshire countryside, two towns where the artist spent most of his life. He was influenced by boats floating by the harbor, sunlight glistening on the waves, or the bending landscape of the Yorkshire moors.
This exhibition not only celebrates Frost’s artistic achievements and his longstanding friendship and collaboration with Flowers Gallery, which dates back to the 1950s. Frost’s profound connection to the landscapes of Cornwall and Yorkshire, as well as his inventive use of colour, inspired by the world around him, have left an indelible mark on the art world.
ABOUT SIR TERRY FROST (RA) (1915-2003)
Over the course of his career, Sir Terry Frost became one of Britain’s most prominent abstract artists. Living in Cornwall during the 1950s alongside British Modernist artists Roger Hilton, Patrick Heron, and Peter Lanyon, Frost moved into abstraction, later producing three-dimensional work, and experimenting with collage and constructions. Frost was born in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire in 1915. During WWII, he served in France, the Middle East and Greece. In June 1941, whilst serving with the commandos in Crete, he was captured and moved through several prisoner of war camps. It was at a camp in Bavaria that he began painting; he described how spiritual insight brought on by hunger awakened his creativity. Once freed, Frost studied at Birmingham College of Art and Camberwell School of Art, London. He became associated with the St Ives group, working as an assistant to Barbara Hepworth. His teaching career led him to Bath Academy of Art, the University of Leeds, Cyprus College of Art and the University of Reading. He was awarded the John Moores Painting Prize in 1965. He became a Royal Academician in 1992 and received a knighthood in 1998. His work has been exhibited widely nationally and internationally, with exhibitions at the Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg; the Royal Academy, London; Tate St Ives; and Brooklyn Museum, New York, USA.
