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

In private correspondence, the present owner's husband explained how he came to acquire Blue Harbour: 'During the summer of 1953 I went to St Ives, saw a wooden mobile in an art shop on the road bordering the harbour, and went inside. I was carrying a sketch pad on which I had drawn a crude picture of the crane and its surroundings on the harbour wall. The man behind the counter saw this, and we talked about the various shapes round the harbour. He said, "come here when I’ve closed the shop and I can show you some of my pictures in my studio nearby". It turned out that this was Terry Frost and he was looking after the shop to earn some money. His studio was full of wonderful paintings. I chose one and bought it. He explained that the picture had been inspired by the harbour, this was the rudder of a boat, those were the steps leading down from the harbour wall, up there a rising moon etc. He said that he would only charge me £75 because it was a direct sale, not through his agent in London. This is why it had not appeared in any of the books about him'.