Umber to White, painted in 1961 presents two of Terry Frost's favourite motifs; the semi-circular, hemispherical form and the chevron, in perfectly opposed harmony! The semi-circular form was first seen in Boat (1950) and was a reference to the looping mooring lines Terry observed on Smeaton's Pier in St Ives. A decade later, the form has been refined and perfected in Umber to White. The chevrons appear a little later in Terry's paintings of the early 1950s introducing tension, force and structural anchors to his work, and at times a reference to the human figure, particularly the female form. Again this motif is precisely presented in the present work. In Umber to White there is clearly an opposing tension; an impression of penetrative force and equal resistance between the two forms.

The painting substrate is a very fine, almost silk-like canvas that has allowed the artist to build fine washes of oil colour and then overlay a thick impasto line of white paint to accentuate the half-round form. A very pleasing Frost from the artist at the height of his powers having just finished his first solo exhibition in New York, which was a sell-out.