Orange by Terry Frost
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Orange was purchased by the Friends of the Mead Gallery to celebrate the award of an honorary doctorate to Sir Terry Frost in 2000. It is a characteristically colourful and energetic collage in which he was returning to themes featured in his early paintings - in this case, motifs inspired by bobbing boats moored in a harbour. Notable examples are Green and White Movement 1951 and Black and White Movement 1953 in the Tate Gallery and Blue Movement 1957 in the Vancouver Art Gallery. Whereas the main emphasis in these works was on movement and rhythm, the 1999 interpretation has the addition of joyous colour, typical of so much of Frost's later work.
This collage was a prototype for a larger version, given a different title, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 2000. It was singled out for praise by the art critic Richard Dorment: "I was struck by Terry Frost's Newlyn Bowjey Blue, an orange canvas onto which half-moon-shaped wedges of lemon yellow, light blue and dark blue have been attached to form a series of falling diagonals. I'd never realised before how much Frost had been influenced by the late works of Matisse....When he brings off a canvas in strong colour, as here, he can be terrific." (Daily Telegraph 24 May 2000)