Tom Cross (1931-2009)
In a Window 1979
Oil on canvas; 152 x 107 cms
Provenance: The Artist's Estate
The composition of a still life in front of a window was one that Tom Cross returned to regularly through the 1970s and 1980s. He was first inspired by a visit to Eagles' Nest in Zennor, the home of Patrick Heron, where the Cross family stayed during the summer of 1977, not long after they first moved to Cornwall. Further information about this painting can be found on the gallery website.
From the Tom Cross Archive:
'I feel more and more the need to bring my drawings of landscape...into line with the abstract painting...the landscapes rely too much on naturalistic shape and need more of the formal structure of the paintings'. Following an early experiment: 'the colour groups based on blue could allow forms to be buried and the picture. Perhaps as a development the use of free structured forms might just work if these refer to a known reality outside the picture' (FCP3/B/1/24, October 1977).
'Living in Falmouth in a tall house overlooking the harbour provided subjects in the life of the river; the effects of light, the movement of water and the constant maritime activity of a busy port. The series 'In a Window' was based on a view from this house, the distant landscape of the port set within the framing of a Georgian window frame. In the foreground a plant with broad leaves created a third plane in the painting'. ('Tom Cross, 'Helford: A River and Some Landscapes', Halsgrove, 2005, p77.)
