Life in Colour: Sir Terry Frost

As part of our upcoming Life in Colour exhibition this spring we look into the lives of the artists at the heart of the show.

Next up, the renowned Sir Terry Frost (1915 - 2003)

Sir Terry Frost was an English painter best known for his geometric abstractions; using overlapping half-circles, rectangles and squares of bright colours, his work conveyed his enthusiasm for perceptual phenomena.

Blue Brad

Born in 1915, he served in WWII where he met English painter Adrian Heath while a prisoner of war; his interactions with Heath inspired him to attend Camberwell School of Art upon his return to England where he studied under renowned painters Ben Nicholson and William Coldstream.

Carylon Sunshine

His first solo show took place in London in 1952 and by the late 1950's Frost was established as a leading artist. During the 1960's Frost began teaching at Reading University where he later became Professor of Painting, although printmaking always played a key role in his work; for him, painting and printing were inseparable, with one medium creating ideas for the other. In 1974 he returned to Cornwall where his love of the region provided a rich source of inspiration for much of his work.

Spanish Dreams

Frost was elected a Royal Academician in 1992. He continued to exhibit regularly and a major retrospective took place at the Royal Academy in October 2000 to celebrate his 85th year. He was granted a knighthood in 1998 and died in September 2003. Today his works are held in collections in the Tate Gallery, London and Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Life in Colour featuring limited edition prints by Sir Terry Frost will be on show from 12th May 2018