Sir Terry Frost, R.A. (1915-2003)

An early and important purchase by the Freers, this small but intense Frost is a magnificent painting from his Corsham period. Before he went to Leeds on a Gregory Fellowship, Frost taught for a couple of years (1952-54) at Bath Academy of Art at Corsham, along with Peter Lanyon and Bryan Wynter. He was inspired by the teaching ambience (at the same time he taught at Willesden Art School in London, staying with his friend and mentor Adrian Heath when he needed to be in London), commuting up to Corsham from St Ives where he began working in the studio with a new freedom and inventiveness. Far more abstract than his recent paintings inspired by the movement of boats at anchor, the geometric design of Red and Black was a radical breakthrough, and foreshadows Frost’s later development, particularly his fondness for the combination of red, black and white. A key transitional painting.

A.L.