Flood Tide, Flood Tide, 1946
Pencil, watercolour and gouache on paper
14½ x 21½ in (36.5 x 54 cm)
Signed, numbered w 20 and dated twice
Collections: Reid and Lefevre, January 1947; With Offer Waterman when sold to the Present owner
Literature: A.Peat and B.Whitton John Tunnard; His Life and Work 1997 (493)
Tunnard worked as a coastguard during The War and the years he spent staring out to sea are reflected in the curved horizon of the composition. The foreground components of the composition, however, are a characteristic blend of the artist’s unique combination of surrealism, abstraction and naturalism.
The independent minded Tunnard resisted formal association with any artistic groups, from the Surrealists in the 1930’s to The Penrith Society of Arts in St Ives in the 1940’s.
His style was influenced by Klee and Miro and from the late 1940’s he was selling regularly to American museums. In 1946 his finances were at a low point and he was obliged temporarily to take the post of art master at Wellington College.