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

Sotheby's are delighted to offer the following group of Christmas and greetings cards sent to the sculptor Denis Mitchell and his family, from artists including Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, Ben Nicholson and Peter Lanyon.  The cards provide an exciting opportunity to acquire exquisite examples of artists’ work in their most intimate and expressive form.   The earliest examples date from the 1950s and many artists, predominantly from the post war St Ives circle, continued to send cards until Mitchell's death in 1993. The works include miniature abstract constructions by Barns-Graham, collages and gouaches by Terry Frost, a collage and an ink drawing by Patrick Heron and other works from artists including Breon O'Casey, Michael Canney, Trevor Bell and Alexander MacKenzie.

Every card illustrates an individual working method, allowing the development of each artist's pictorial language to be traced by following the dates of the cards.  Starting with Terry Frost’s early abstract linocut, they provide a unique insight into artists’ small-scale experiments on paper outside the parameters of the materials and subject matter with which they are traditionally associated.   In addition to their enviable academic value, the cards are also personal pieces of correspondence which illuminate the relationship between Mitchell and his contemporaries and document the close ties between artists in the St Ives community.