Lot 29AR
JOHN TUNNARD A.R.A.(1900-1971)Flurry
8 March 2022, 14:00 GMT
London, New Bond StreetSold for £8,925 inc. premium
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JOHN TUNNARD A.R.A. (1900-1971)
Flurry
signed, numbered and dated 'John Tunnard/F4/63' (lower left); signed, titled, numbered and dated 'Flurry/F4/1963/John Tunnard' (on the reverse)
gouache on paper
38.1 x 55.9cm (15 x 22in).
together with three further works (all unframed) (4)
Executed in 1963
signed, numbered and dated 'John Tunnard/F4/63' (lower left); signed, titled, numbered and dated 'Flurry/F4/1963/John Tunnard' (on the reverse)
gouache on paper
38.1 x 55.9cm (15 x 22in).
together with three further works (all unframed) (4)
Executed in 1963
Footnotes
Provenance
The artist's collection.
McRoberts & Tunnard, London.
Tunnard Estate.
Entwistle, London.
Private collection, UK.
Exhibited
London, Royal Academy of Arts, John Tunnard 1900-1971, 6 March - 11 April 1977, no. 69 (later travelled to Cambridge, Kettering, Manchester, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Penzance).
Literature
Exh. cat., London, Arts Council, John Tunnard 1900-1971, 1977, no. 69, p.35 (illustrated).
A. Peat & B. Whitton, John Tunnard; His Life and Work, Aldershot, 1997, p. 198.
John Tunnard began his artistic career as a designer in the Manchester textile industry and this is likely where he first began to experiment with abstraction and geometry in his work and designs. By the late 1920s, he took up painting in earnest and started exhibiting works with the London Group, whose primary aim was to advance public awareness of contemporary visual art. As his output matured and became more and more avant-garde in its approach, his paintings maintained an organic quality, reflecting his interest in natural history and the Cornish coastline where he lived most of his life. Although proficient in many mediums, Tunnard favoured gouache which he used throughout his career with excellent and varied effect, being well-suited to his modernist style.
Tunnard was an advocate of Surrealism in Britain, encouraged perhaps by his interest in experimental techniques and imaginative imagery. Although never formally a member of the movement, Tunnard participated in a number of key group exhibitions in the 1930s, including Surrealism, held in 1939 at Gordon Fraser Gallery in Cambridge, which featured works by Ernst, Klee, Magritte, Miró and others.
