Display

The present work is one of four paintings with almost identical dimensions executed in Tunnard's final years, which were the largest he ever did. Constructivist-influenced lines etched through to the gesso base have a role in all, sometimes largely as ornament, but in other places to add depth and perspective. However, in contrast to the other paintings of similar size, Holocaust, Vision and Messenger, which show Tunnard as an English romantic, Display reverts back to the time of the Guggenheim Jeune exhibition in 1939. Klee-influenced shapes are prominent and, like a number of his paintings of the late 1930s and 1940s, Display has a rhythm reflecting Tunnard's love of jazz and dance. Elsewhere in his record book Tunnard uses the word 'dance' for structures reminiscent of the pair on the floor of Display. A number of works done in later years hint at styles Tunnard used much earlier. Perhaps he wanted to show that, with all the painterly skills he had acquired over the years, he could now produce something even better. Following several successful exhibitions at the end of the 1950s and early 1960s, he became uneasy about many paintings done earlier, especially those of the mid-1950s. Quite a number were destroyed in late 1961. By the middle of the 1960s Tunnard had fully regained his confidence, which may explain why he set out to produce what were for him these very large paintings.

B.W.