1994
Oil on canvas
h55.5 x w45cm

Signed and dated (on the reverse)

Provenance:
The Belgrave Gallery, London;
Messums, London, where acquired by the present owner.

Exhibited:
The Belgrave Gallery, London, Terry Frost, 5 – 28 October 1994, no. 30;

‘Black and white and red I think are superb.’
Terry Frost, Royal Academy exhibition catalogue, 2000

The present work is a pure distillation of Terry Frost’s attraction to these three colours, once described as his ‘primary’ colours, and his experimentation of forms with which to express them. They recur frequently in the paintings of his late career, but their first appearance in his oeuvre dates back to 1955 when he was living and working in Leeds (see Red, Black and White, Leeds, 1955, sold Sotheby’s, 15 November 2011, lot 35, private collection).

A leading exponent of abstraction in Britain as part of the post-War generation, Frost’s work used an abstract language which also lay connected to the external world. As his career advanced, the subject diminished in favour of pure form, which we see in the present example. The combination of colours also references the Russian abstract artists of the early twentieth century, such as El Lissitzky and Kasimir Malevich, whose work and theory was a great influence on Frost. Stripping the works back to in this manner was a means for Frost to lay emphasis on the inter-relationship between these elements and their emotional impact.

Messums Estimate: £15,000 – £20,0000
Price inclusive of ARR