Black and White Movement, 1953/4
signed, titled and dated to paper label on the reverse
oil on board
68 x 72cm

Provenance:
Purchased from the artist, May 1986
Sale; Christie's (details untraced)
With The New Art Centre, London
Belgrave Gallery, where purchased in 1998

Exhibited:
St.Ives, Cornwall, Tate Gallery, 1993

Black and White Movement is one in a series of early 1950s paintings by Terry Frost, created during his formative years in Cornwall. Living in St Ives during this period, Frost was captivated by the rhythmic motion of boats swaying in the harbour—a motif that became central to this work. The repeated half-moon shapes that cascade rhythmically through the composition were drawn from these observations, embodying a visual sense of motion and balance that hovers between the observed and the abstract. Frost employed the principles of the Golden Section—a proportion long used by artists and architects to evoke harmony and natural order. To construct the arcs and lines, Frost used string, a method passed on by Victor Pasmore, which reflected the tension and slack of mooring ropes as the tides shifted.

Frost spoke of his time in St Ives, recalling evenings spent watching the harbour as dusk fell. He described the scene not just in terms of what he saw, but what he felt was a “state of delight in front of nature”. The reciprocity of tide, wind, and moored vessels became, in his words, a “synthesis of movement and counter-movement”.

Condition Report
Overall good condition. The painting has been cleaned. 
Abrasiosn to the left hand corners and a tiny pin prick of paint flaked away