Linocut on paper
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/sir-terry-frost-1126" aria-label="More by Sir Terry Frost" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Sir Terry Frost</a>
Boat Shapes
Purchased 1983
abstraction
boat - non-specific
from recognisable sources
irregular forms
man-made
non-representational
society
transport: water
paper print linocut
Boat Shapes
image: 193 × 267 mm
Purchased 1983
<p><a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/frost-boat-shapes-p07984" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P07984</span></a> <b>Boat Shapes</b> 1954
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<br/>Linocut 7 3/4 × 10 1/2 (193 × 267) on paper 8 7/8 × 11 (225 × 280), printed by the artist at No.4 Porthmeor Studios, St Ives, not editioned
<br/>Inscribed ‘Terry Frost 54’ b.r.
<br/>Purchased from the artist (Grant-in-Aid) 1983
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<br/><a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/frost-boat-shapes-p07982" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P07982</span></a> was printed by hand-pressure. Of the twenty or so printed ‘each one is pretty unique’ in that most of them were hand printed and Frost ‘played about with a bit of colour on the <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/print" title="Glossary definition for 'Print'"><span>prints</span></a>’. In some cases he used ‘a combination of press and hand’, the press being an <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/e/etching" title="Glossary definition for 'Etching'"><span>etching</span></a> press. The ‘Boat Shapes’ prints relate closely to the motifs Frost was incorporating in his <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>paintings</span></a> in the early 1950s inspired by the rocking movements of boats moored in harbour (see Lawrence Alloway, Nine <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/a/abstract-art" title="Glossary definition for 'Abstract art'"><span>Abstract</span></a> Artists, 1954, pp.23–4 for an account of the genesis of ‘Blue Movement’, repr. no.9, a painting in this series, now in the collection of the Vancouver Art Gallery). <span>P07982</span> is printed in blue, black and brown from one block. Frost printed the block twice, once in reverse, applying the colours with a brush in order to be able to print more than one at a time. The lower half, therefore, is a mirror reflection of the upper half. Frost has written, ‘It was most important to me, the accident of that double print opened up the imagination to all kinds of possibilities and I did do a super Blue ptg from that double print which is in Vancouver.’
<br/>
<br/><a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/frost-boat-shapes-p07983" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P07983</span></a> is printed from two blocks in brown and black, the black being printed last. The <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/i/ink" title="Glossary definition for 'Ink'"><span>ink</span></a> appears to have been relatively dry, allowing the <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/paper" title="Glossary definition for 'Paper'"><span>paper</span></a> to show through as a texture. <span>P07984</span>, printed on off-white paper in black, is also unevenly printed but is a more complex image than the other two. According to Frost, ‘This is much more based on a painting idea and is a much more complicated <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/l/linocut" title="Glossary definition for 'Linocut'"><span>linocut</span></a>.’ The emphasis on the vertical stripes in this work and the deep black <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/t/tone" title="Glossary definition for 'Tone'"><span>tone</span></a> anticipate the paintings he would begin to make on taking up an appointment as Gregory Fellow at Leeds University in that year. This entry has been approved by the artist.
<br/>
<br/><b>Published in:</b>
<br/><i>The Tate Gallery 1982-84: Illustrated Catalogue of Acquisitions</i>, London 1986
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<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-10-13T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
abstraction boat - non-specific from recognisable sources irregular forms man-made non-representational society transport: water