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Terry Frost

Red, Blue and White, 1966
Oil on canvas
86 x 68 ins (218.4 x 172.7 cms)

signed, inscribed & dated 1966 verso

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Provenance:

Private Collection, London

Chris Stephens, Terry Frost, Tate gallery publishing, London, 2000, no.41, illustrated.

By the 1960s Frost had established his own short-hand cannon of signs for describing the world around him. Discs and half discs, chevrons, arrows, curves, and rod-like verticals, diamonds and quarter circles reference sun, moon, undulation of hill, and masts of sailing ships.

This personalised system of notation is articulated in Red, Blue and White where these signs repeat and align themselves in frieze-like vertical borders. This language of abstract motifs allows Frost to focus on creating a composition free from external references.

While the Union Jack colours affirm this abstracts sense of place, they also betray more contemporary influences. Frost's return to the urban Midlands to teach at Reading University, later to become Professor of Painting brought him in touch with youth culture. The Beatles used military decorations and wore them as badges on their 'Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band', album cover, turning old nationalistic associations on their head.

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