John Tunnard (1900-1971)

Composition: Plein Air Abstraction

After leaving the Royal College of Art Tunnard worked as a textile designer before moving to Cornwall in 1930. During the 1930s he developed a highly individual style which was influenced by both Surrealism and abstraction. He saw himself as an abstract painter but exhibited with the Surrealists at the Artists International Association exhibition in 1937.

Tunnard's paintings are dominated by intersecting planes and forms which draw on both technology and nature but are recognisable as neither, figments instead of a strange inner world. The lines seen in this painting appear frequently in Tunnard's work. They might suggest the strings on a musical instrument but also help to define the relationships between elements within the painting and give a sense of depth.

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