Exhibitors
Lucy Johnson
| Artist: | JOHN TUNNARD (1900-1971) |
| Title: | JOHN TUNNARD, A.R.A. (1900-1971) Phantom (1959) |
| Dimensions: | 38.00cm high 60.00cm wide |
| Description/Expertise: | Signed, numbered and dated 'John Tunnard/TRG 26. 59.' (lower right). Titled, signed and dated on the reverse
Pencil, black ink, coloured crayon, watercolour and bodycolour This was entered into Tunnard's ledger as TRG 26, with the Greek letters theta theta as a personal reminder of the work. Similar shapes were first incorporated into his paintings during the late 1930s, such as Installation (a) held by the Laing Gallery, Newcastle. Watercolour on the reverse Phantom is an exceptional picture executed at the height of Tunnard‘s space age’ period and as such entered into his ledger which is unusual as he kept sparse records of his work at this time. The work was entered into Tunnard's ledger as TRG 26, with the Greek letters theta theta as a personal reminder of the work. Similar shapes were first incorporated into his paintings during the late 1930s, such as Installation (a) held by the Laing Gallery, Newcastle. The present painting acquired the title Chenue while held with Thomas Agnew, but there is no doubt from Tunnard's own records and the inscription on the reverse of the painting that Phantom is the correct title. Phantom was shown at the the McRoberts & Tunnard Gallery one man show, alongside 49 other pictures. The show was very successful, David Nicholson (Arts News & Review) commented ‘ Tunnard’s name is not as familiar as the merit of his work warrants for here is a very arresting talent indeed. I predict that the impact will be most gratifying to all concerned with this new venture. Certainly all the ingredients of a success d’esteem are present.. In short, this is an exhibition of major impact and importance’. Phantom was also shown at the Durlacher exhibition in 1960. ‘His work appears to have gained a sensuous richnesss and a wider range of colour. He has drawn his subjects from an inner vision rather than from his environing world. Yet he has never lost touch with this outer world; even if it does not furnish him with themes his intense observations of it enhances his themes with response to visual experience. It is the felicitous blending of inner poetic vision with a dispassionate and active intelligence that gives an inescapable quality to his work… acutely outlines plans… cut by linear patterns suggest a serious preoccupation with complex organization.’ Margaret Breuning, Durlacher Gallery introduction, 1960 Tunnard was ‘one of the most skilled masters in England in the medium of gouache’ (Herbert Read), and Phantom exemplifies his masterful handling of his favoured medium. Guggenheim also made the comparison that Tunnard’s gouaches were ‘as musical as Kandinsky’s, as delicate as Klees and as gay as Miro’s’ ‘One day a marvelous man in a highly elaborate tweed coat walked into the gallery. He looked like Groucho Marz. He was as animated as a jazz band leader; which he turned out to be. His colour was exquisite and his construction magnificent. His name was John Tunnard. He asked me very modestly if I thought I could give him a show, and then and there I fixed a date. I was happy that I had discovered a genius. (Peggy Guggenheim) ‘Tunnard’s imagery stems from a dual preoccupation – that with nature and that with man’s own invention. It is immaterial that he images he depticts as pertaining to nature have been heightened, transformed, crystallized and that the man-made creations are soley the result of a conbination of memories and imagination – Tunnard’s usual world is based on the firm foundations of research, experiment and painstaking work. Jasia Reichardt, 1961 review. As stated at the end of Peat & Whitton, ‘ His work in not for the hasty eye, but like great poems his best paintings repay many re-readings and with each one his talent becomes more strikingly clear. |
| Provenance: | Private Collection. Purchased from Thomas Agnew, London, as 'Chenue' in 1996. |
| Literature: | A. Peat and B. Whitton, John Tunnard Life and Work, Aldershot, 1997, p. 190, no. 705.
|
OTHER WORKS
 Sir William Nicholson (1872-1949) : The Ruined Castle, a view of Dunure from the... |
 Roger Hilton (1911-1975) : Landscape Study |
| Contact dealer | Dealer details |