Terry Frost | |
|---|---|
| Born | Terence Ernest Manitou Frost (1915-10-13)13 October 1915 Leamington Spa,Warwickshire, England |
| Died | 1 September 2003(2003-09-01) (aged 87) |
| Alma mater | Birmingham College of Art Camberwell School of Art St. Ives School of Painting |
| Movement | St Ives School |
Sir Terence Ernest Manitou FrostRA (13 October 1915 – 1 September 2003) was a British abstract artist, who worked inNewlyn,Cornwall.[1] Frost was renowned for his use of the Cornish light, colour and shape to start a new art movement in England. He became a leading exponent of abstract art and a recognised figure of the British art establishment.
Born inLeamington Spa,Warwickshire, in 1915, he did not become an artist until he was in his 30s. He left school aged fourteen and went to work at Curry's cycle shop and then atArmstrong Whitworth in Coventry. DuringWorld War II, he served in France, the Middle East and Greece, before joining the commandos. Whilst serving with the commandos inCrete in June 1941 he was captured and sent to various prisoner of war camps.[2] As aprisoner of war atStalag 383 inBavaria, he metAdrian Heath who encouraged him to paint. Commenting later he described these years as a 'tremendous spiritual experience, a more aware or heightened perception during starvation'.[3]
As soon as war was over he went toBirmingham College of Art, where he metBarrie Cook. However Frost quickly assumed that the action was elsewhere. At first attendedCamberwell School of Art underLeonard Fuller. The following year, 1946 he removed for a year out toSt. Ives School of Painting where his first solo exhibition was held in 1947 atG.B. Downing's bookshop, before returning to London and that autumn theCamberwell School of Art underVictor Pasmore,Ben Nicholson andWilliam Coldstream bringing him to paint his first abstract work in 1949. For three years he exhibited with theSt Ives Society of Artists until in 1950 he was elected a member of thePenwith Society; he maintained a permanent connection with the Newlyn school. Already settled in the town by 1951 he worked as an assistant to the sculptorBarbara Hepworth. He was joined there by Roger Hilton, where they began a collaboration in collage and construction techniques.
His first exhibition was theLeicester Galleries in the heart of London's West End. Frost's academic career included teaching atBath Academy of Art, theCoventry College of Art and was appointed on the recommendation ofHerbert Read as the Gregory Fellow on Painting (1954-1956) at theUniversity of Leeds. There he befriended the painterStass Paraskos, who would later invite Frost to spend time working and teaching inCyprus at theCyprus College of Art.
In 1958 while still living in Leeds and teaching atLeeds School of Art he joined theLondon Group. He moved to St Ives, and then in 1963 to Banbury, where his house at 2 Old Parr Street now sports an Oxfordshire Blue Plaque.[4]
Later he becameArtist in Residence andProfessor of Painting at theDepartment of Fine Art of theUniversity of Reading.
In the 1960s, Frost was represented by theBertha Schaefer Gallery in New York.[5]
In 1992 he was elected aRoyal Academician and he wasknighted in 1998.[6] A retrospective of his work was held in 2000.
He married Kathleen Clarke in 1945. They had five sons and one daughter. Two of his sons, Adrian andAnthony, also became artists, while a third son,Stephen, is a comedian and actor. His grandsonLuke Frost (son of Anthony) is also an artist.
The following list is not comprehensive but includes paintings, screenprints, sikcreens, etchings, aquatints, woodcuts and collages.
