John Tunnard

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John Tunnard (May 7, 1900 - December 18, 1971), was a British artist and designer.

Tunnard was born in Bedfordshire, England. He is best known for his paintings of strange private worlds, which are instantly recognisable. Ever enthusiastic to experiment and be at the cutting edge of the Avant Garde,Tunnard consciously developed his work in the style of British Surrealism as it emerged after the second world war. A use of biomorphic forms and architectural elements combine with elements of constructivism, reflecting his interest in the technology of space travel. Many of the paintings are of fantastic constructions in deep space, and demonstrate a preoccupation with entomology and geology.Tunnards work commonly depicts the detailed design that is found abundant within nature itself. When placing Tunnards work in context, it is important to consider the proliferation of ecology based fiction, art and discussion that was begining to appear in the late 1950's and early 1960's. In his famous 1951 novel Day of The Triffids, John Wyndham was spurred on by reported scientific practice at this time. Public attention had reverted unfavourably from scientific experiments carried out on plants in 1940s America. Science had formerly been held in high regard as champion of the brave new world. With this new concern, Rachel Carson's literary augur of environmental catastrophe Silent Spring was published in 1962. The book summarized her main argument, The 'control of nature' is a phrase conceived in arrogance, born of a flawed understanding of biology and philosophy, when it was supposed that nature exists for the convenience of man. Tunnard's themes, in part owe much to the discussion that was being generated in the midst of this burgeoning ecological angst; although the man identified more strongly with modernism and his work is more detached, observational; and less community spirited than his literary contemporaries. In his Self Portrait ( now in the National Gallery, London) the artist depicts himself alongside an oversized insect. The meanings in his paintings is unclear;Artists are expected to make clear the contents and objectives of their work. Tunnard's work may sometimes be seen as a clumsy meandering of ideas.Interest in his work had diminished and his name declined into obscurity after his death in 1971,with a revival following a centenary exhibition in 2000. His art has beenless sought after than his contemporary Ivon Hitchens, who was also born in Berkshire, seven years before Tunnard. The work of both artists refers to natural resources;they painted the textures of stone; water; earth. A particularly noted proponant of Neo-romanticism was Graham Sutherland. Sutherland was primarily concerned with portraying the dark underside of nature.These artists are remembered as belonging to the group loosely termed British Neo-romanticism. The Neo-romatics continued the tradition of British landscape processing it through a modern sensability,but there version excluded reference those aspects of the 1900's that characterise its seperateness from previous times; technology and machines; At the begining of the 20th century a group of artists known as the Furturists explored the machine age. They wanted to exclude and detroy remnants of the past. They were interested in all that was new, fast and modern. The Neo-romatics had reacted against this; and Tunnard put the machines back into his landscape in a blurred montage. Despite a firm root in tradition, Tunnard's paintings have a bleak and sometimes sinister quality. The repeated use of colours such as blues, browns and greys has an unsettling effect on the eye; The inhuman scale of his forms and architectonic structures further evoke this feeling of remoteness in his paintings. Hitchens's work typically uses a warm palette of reds, browns greens and yellows. Tunnard did not adhere entirely to the Earth and nature as a theme; His work was possibly the first among modernists to depict satellites and moonscapes in painting. Always meticulously executed, the paintings were carefully rendered using clear precise edges and fully formed modelling; indeed, with scientific precision. His vision was a unique one which transcended a documentary representation of the world. His technique evolved from his youthful employ as a commercial designer.He was at first, quietly naive about modern art techniques; he once asked a colleague whether it was acceptable for him to use a compass and a ruler. Would he foresake his authenticity as an artist? Gouache or oil on a gesso base were his favoured materials, but he often used a range of media for a single work. However, his choice of materials was sometimes unusual, for instance, in several cases tempera and oil paint were combined in a single work. He also worked with oil on glass supports during a period just after the second world war, during a period when he was highly productive. Most oils were painted on gesso. Some oils were painted on his choice of fibre or composite board. This being an ill-advised choice for professional artists in general. He may not have known that collectors are as fussy about the quality of the support as they are fussy about the quality of the painting.

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