Etching on paper
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Collection
Eleven Poems by Federico Garcia Lorca
<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>
Tree Tree
Presented by the Tate Americas Foundation, courtesy of David and Renée McKee 2022
abstraction
desire
emotions and human qualities
emotions, concepts and ideas
food and drink
from recognisable sources
irregular forms
landscape
literature (not Shakespeare)
literature and fiction
Lorca, Federico Garcia, ‘Tree, Tree’
non-representational
objects
olive
<p>Frost was a major figure in the second generation of St Ives artists. Although he is primarily known as an abstract painter, printmaking was a major part of his artistic output throughout his career. The prints in the series <i>Eleven Poems by Federico Garcia Lorca</i> were produced to accompany a suite of poems by Spanish poet and dramatist Federico García Lorca (1898-1936) printed in the original Spanish and in English translation. Work on Frost’s colour intaglio prints in this series was overseen first by painter and graphic designer Gordon House and then by printmaker Hugh Stoneman. The poems and prints were published by Austin/Desmond Contemporary Books, London in 1989 in a solander box designed by the artist. In the box each print rests inside a paper folder on which the respective poem is printed. In addition Frost decorated the exterior of the box and designed a title page for the portfolio. The suite was produced in an edition of seventy-five plus fifteen artist’s copies; Tate’s copy is the fourth of ten artist’s proofs.</p>
paper print etching
Tree, Tree
image: 556 × 378 mm
Presented by the Tate Americas Foundation, courtesy of David and Renée McKee 2022
<p>Frost was a major figure in the second generation of St Ives artists. Although he is primarily known as 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/a/abstract-art" title="Glossary definition for 'Abstract art'"><span>abstract</span></a> painter, <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>printmaking</span></a> was a major part of his artistic output throughout his career. 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 the series <i>Eleven Poems by Federico Garcia Lorca</i> were produced to accompany a suite of poems by Spanish poet and dramatist Federico García Lorca (1898-1936) printed in the original Spanish and in English translation. Work on Frost’s colour <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/intaglio" title="Glossary definition for 'Intaglio'"><span>intaglio</span></a> prints in this series was overseen first by painter and graphic designer Gordon House and then by printmaker Hugh Stoneman. The poems and prints were published by Austin/Desmond Contemporary Books, London in 1989 in a solander box designed by the artist. In the box each print rests inside a <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> folder on which the respective poem is printed. In addition Frost decorated the exterior of the box and designed a title page for 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/portfolio" title="Glossary definition for 'Portfolio'"><span>portfolio</span></a>. The suite was produced in 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/edition" title="Glossary definition for 'Edition'"><span>edition</span></a> of seventy-five plus fifteen artist’s copies; Tate’s copy is the fourth of ten artist’s proofs.
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<br/>Widely regarded as one of Spain’s greatest writers, Lorca was killed by pro-Franco forces in the early days of the Spanish Civil War. Along with his literary achievements his early death sealed his posthumous reputation as a political martyr. Frost began reading Lorca’s poetry in depth in the 1970s and was inspired by the poet’s visual imagery, particularly his emotive descriptions of colour. The artist’s first print made in response to a Lorca poem was a 1974 <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/s/screenprint" title="Glossary definition for 'Screenprint'"><span>screenprint</span></a> entitled <i>Variations</i>. In the late 1980s Frost obtained copyright to English translations of several of Lorca’s poems and began work on the images in this portfolio. Recalling this period of his life, Frost proclaimed his admiration for the poet, saying, ‘Lorca is so simple, and so direct, and so full of colour and ideas. I was so much in love with the poetry at that time’ (quoted in <i>Terry Frost: Six Decades</i>, p.69).
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<br/><i>Tree, Tree</i> is a dense green image. Alternating semi-circles in light and dark shades of green radiate from the top of the image. In the centre of the print is a broad white crescent overlaid with bright green circles. A series of chevron shapes point towards the middle of the chevron from the bottom right corner; their trajectory leads up and along the top edge of the crescent to the right.
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<br/>The poem on which this print is based describes a girl gathering olives under a ‘dry and green’ tree, heedless of the suitors who call to her as they pass by. The circles in Frost’s print suggest olives, while the chevrons appear swept by the wind that dominates Lorca’s poem. Linda Saunders has described the symbolic weight of the chevrons, describing them as ‘Frostian signs, arrows of desire’ (Saunders, ‘Frost and the Duende’, <i>Terry Frost</i>, p.217).
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<br/><b>Further reading:</b>
<br/>David Lewis, David Archer, Ronnie Duncan, Adrian Heath and Linda Saunders, <i>Terry Frost</i>, Aldershot, Hants, 2000.
<br/>Mel Gooding and Isabel Carlisle, <i>Terry Frost: Six Decades</i>, exhibition catalogue, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2000.
<br/>Chris Stephens,<i> St Ives Artists: Terry Frost</i>, London, 2000.
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<br/>Rachel Taylor
<br/>July 2004</p>

Summary
2005-09-15T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT
abstraction desire emotions and human qualities emotions, concepts and ideas food and drink from recognisable sources irregular forms landscape literature and fiction literature (not Shakespeare) Lorca, Federico Garcia, ‘Tree, Tree’ non-representational objects olive