Dimensions: support: 559 x 714 mm frame: 692 x 848 x 60 mm
Copyright: © The Estate of John Tunnard | CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED, Photo: Tate
Editor: John Tunnard's "Reclamation," from an unknown date, presents such a curious composition of shapes and colours! It’s quite dreamlike. What do you make of the formal relationships within this piece? Curator: Indeed. Note how Tunnard juxtaposes hard-edged geometric forms with softer, more organic shapes. The interplay between the foreground and background is particularly striking. Do you observe how the artist uses colour to create spatial depth? Editor: I see how the blues and yellows advance and recede, almost like an Escher painting. So what should we be looking at in the painting? Curator: Direct your attention to the surface texture itself. The layering of paint creates a sense of depth and movement. Consider, too, how the composition adheres to a modernist grid. Editor: This has given me a fresh perspective on the artwork. Thank you. Curator: My pleasure. I find something new each time.
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John Tunnard was a member of the London Surrealist Group. He exhibited regularly with the AIA from 1937 and contributed to many of its wider initiatives. Although a pacifist and just too old for conscription, Tunnard volunteered as a coastguard after the outbreak of the Second World War. He exhibited a work called Focal Point in the Four Freedoms room at the AIA For Liberty exhibition held at the John Lewis bombsite. This work, painted the following year, is very similar. Gallery label, September 2024
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