Sir Terry Frost, R.A.

Connaught Brown, London, where acquired by the present owner circa 2005

Elizabeth Knowles (ed.), Terry Frost, Scolar Press, Aldershot, 1994, illustrated p.175.

The board is sound. There is some rounding to the board at the corners. The edges of the board are slightly uneven in places and there are some small losses around the extreme edges in places. The board is attached to the frame with nails around the edges, with the nail heads apparent, and there is possibly some very small associated losses to the paint in places. There are several incised lines to the board, one running vertically along the right edge and two running horizontally along the lower edge, thought to be in keeping with the Artist's materials. There is a line of reticulation in the upper left quadrant. There is a speck of loss to the horizontal line of black pigment third from the bottom at the centre of the work, with a few further small specks to the black pigment in the lower right quadrant, and one or two possible small flecks of loss elsewhere. There is light surface dirt in places and there is a light layer of discoloured varnish in places. Subject to the above, the work appears to be in very good overall condition. Inspection under ultraviolet light shows some fluorescence to the work which is thought to be in keeping with the Artist's materials. There are also some flecks of retouching to some of the nail heads around the edges in places, most apparent in the upper left corner, and one or two further small spots of retouching elsewhere. The work is float mounted within a silver painted wood frame. Please telephone the department on +44 207 293 6424 if you have any questions.
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With a further work by the same hand depicting a crucifixion on the reverse.

The theme of the Three Graces, or three nude figures, had fascinated Frost since he first encountered Peter Paul Rubens’ Judgement of Paris of 1635-6 in the National Gallery, London.  The combination of the interaction of the three figures – or the same figure seen from three different viewpoints – and the erotic overtones of the subject made it a source of much interest. It was also allied to his interest in the pagan gods of Cornwall, specifically the idea of a sensuous figure of love. In quick figurative sketches and imposing abstract oils, Frost returned to the subject again and again.

Like Roger Hilton and William Scott, Frost during the 1950s explored how he might introduce the figure into his otherwise almost abstract compositions. Less sexualised and less obviously identifiable than the women in Hilton or Scott’s paintings, here the three female figures of the title are represented simply by soft rectangular forms, crossed by horizontal black and white lines of varying widths. They dominate the picture plane and are stabilised only by three lines that anchor them to the top left corner of the composition and another at the bottom right. The central and right forms are pierced by white wedges which emerge from the edges of the canvas. There is a tension between the narrative figuration evoked by the title and the bold graphic abstraction of the composition. The starkness of colour emphasises the painting’s formal qualities while the zig-zag lines draw the eye from side to side across the surface of the painting. In keeping with contemporary aesthetics and the theories of the American critic, Clement Greenberg, Frost saw the flatness of a painting, the avoidance of an illusionary space, as a mark of quality. He wrote, ‘When I make a painting it is with paint on a flat surface and belongs to itself.  It is started by one human being wondering, observing, questioning, worrying, trying to see the truth, trying to penetrate the mystery of life. Because we are a mystery.’ (Terry Frost quoted in Terry Frost, Paintings, Drawings, and Collages (exh. cat.), Arts Council, London, 1977, p.14). In the present work the striking palette helps to prevent the eye being drawn into the picture. The informal application of broad strokes of paint suggests a rapid, intuitive studio practice.

It was in 1956 that Frost and his contemporaries saw the first British exhibition of American Abstract Expressionism at the Tate Gallery which may well have encouraged Frost’s greater appreciation of an expressive paint surface, monochrome palette and large scale canvas. In the same year, Frost also made several trips to Paris with Roger Hilton, which fostered an interest in French Tachisme. Three Graces shows Frost at the cutting edge of the artistic avant-garde. The power and authority with which he uses the colour black stands up to the best examples of monochrome painting by Franz Kline or Pierre Soulages and is a testament to his great artistic prowess.