Sir Terry Frost, R.A. 1915-2003

Sold together with a copy of a letter from the artist to the present owner dated 11 March 98.

Frost attended Camberwell School of Art from 1947-50 on an ex-serviceman’s grant, and thus came under the influence of a number of established artists on the staff, including Coldstream, Gowing, Rogers and Pasmore.

Painted in 1949, Madrigal (Coll. Leamington Spa Art Gallery) was Frost’s first fully abstracted painting and one can see clearly how he was reacting to the contemporary shift in the work of Pasmore towards abstraction. Based on a summer assignment set for the students by Claude Rogers on the theme of W.H. Auden's poem 'Madrigal' (see accompanying letter) which recounts the return of a miner to his lover, the final painting combines both abstracted elements of landscape and emotion. This important early study for the work gives a very clear idea of how this was achieved, using a limited palette to work out the spatial harmonies that would aim to give the space and distance implicit in the poem.

While the large scale Madrigal stayed in the artist's possession for many years, the smaller version in oil was bought by Benjamin Britten's partner, Peter Pears.