Holiday

Born 1900, John Tunnard was a painter and designer whose work, like Graham Sutherland’s, has been referred to as Neo-Romantic – a continuation of British landscape painting with a modern awareness. He studied design originally at the Royal College of Art: his first job was as a textile designer in Manchester in the early 1920s, and it wasn’t until 1928 that he took up painting professionally.

By 1931 he had already exhibited at the Royal Academy and he became closely affiliated with the London Group. He also struck up friendships with notable contemporaries Trevelyan, Moore and the poet John Betjeman. After the Second World War he taught at the Penzance School of Art until 1965, exhibiting at the RA in 1960 and elected as associate in 1967. Tunnard died in Penzance in 1971.