Terry Frost

Born in Leamington Spa in 1915, Frost served in the Second World War until he was captured in 1941 and remained prisoner until the end of war. It is in prison camp in Bavaria where he began to paint and draw, encouraged by his fellow prisoner and artist Adrian Heath.

After the war, Frost moved to St. Ives, Cornwall where he lived and worked among the artistic community for the rest of his life. He found inspiration in the Cornish light and landscape. Through the influence of Victor Pasmore and Ben Nicholson his work became more abstract. He attended the St. Ives School of Art and worked as an assistant to sculptor Barbara Hepworth.

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In 1952 Frost had his first solo exhibition at the Leicester Galleries and subsequently taught at many institutions like the Bath Academy of Art, Leeds University and Reading University. His first solo exhibition in New York at the Barbara Schaefer Gallery encouraged him to paint on a larger scale. Frost was awarded the John Moores Prize in 1965, was elected to the Royal Academy in 1992 and knighted in 1998.

A retrospective exhibition of his work was shown at the Royal Academy in 2000 to coincide with his 85th birthday. Frost passed away near his home in Newlyn, Cornwall in 2003.