Sea Bed

Details

John Tunnard, A.R.A. (1900-1971)
Sea Bed
signed and dated 'John Tunnard./47' (lower right)
watercolour, bodycolour and pencil
16 x 26½ in. (41 x 67.5 cm.)
This work was listed by Tunnard as W.38.

Provenance

with Lefevre Gallery, London, December 1947.

Literature

A. Peat & B. Whitton, John Tunnard His Life and Work, Aldershot, 1997, p. 180, no. 553, pl. 30.

Exhibited

Chichester, Festival Exhibition, The Tudor Room of the Bishop's Palace, Sea, Sail and Shore, June - July 1991, no. 24.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

Tunnard remained just as fascinated by the sea in the years immediately after the war as he had been when he was a wartime coastguard. However, there was less of the menace of War and more of natural events and the plants and animals. Sometimes these were incorporate into a composition reflecting his training as a designer, but even these often suggested some sort of action. Sea Bed was originally named Fish Trap and there are plenty of animals waiting here to trap an unwary fish. Like a number of Tunnard's works, shades of blue dominate with several highlights in another colour.

B.W.

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