25th Jun, 2026 10:00
John Tunnard – The Brian Whitton Collection Part Two
§ John Tunnard - Part Drawing for The Levant Mine | mixed media
John Tunnard
(1900-1971)
"The Levant Mine" - sketch for larger work,
mixed media,
signed and dated 1959,
38 x 28cms, 48 x 38cms in frame.
Provenance:
-Austin-Desmond Fine Art, titled High Cliff , stock no.SW4142.
Exhibitions:
-John Tunnard: Inner Space to Outer Space, Pallant House Gallery, 13 March -6 June 2010;
-John Tunnard - His Life and Art from the 1920's to the 1970's, Grey College, Durham University, June 2011, No. 52;
-John Tunnard- Nature, Politics and Science, DLI Museum and Durham Art Gallery, July-October 2015, cat 62.
Literature:
-Alan Peat and Brian A. Whitton, John Tunnard, His Life and Work, Scolar Press, 1997, cat 714, fig 46.
Note:
This is a well-known, now derelict, mine on the north coast of West Penwith in Cornwall. Tunnard visited it in 1954 with his friend Rudolph Glossop, who had worked underground there 32 years previously. Also titled High Cliff, this is a sketch for a work of the same title illustrated in the above volume cat 714, fig 49, in the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, widely considered to be one of the finest works Tunnard did.
Levant Mine and Beam Engine is a National Trust property at Trewellard, Pendeen, near St Just, Cornwall. Its main attraction is that it has the world's oldest Cornish steam winding engine still working in its original location.
This is the only sketch in the sale which can be related to a finished work with certainty. The finished piece now hangs in the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. The derelict mine can still be visited on the Cornish coast, it is cared for by The National Trust. Tunnard visited the mine on an excursion with the Grumbla Club, of which he was a founder member. Fellow member Rudolf Glossop remembers: “He Saw the Levant Zawn, a deep gully in the cliff, its rocky sides brilliantly stained with green and red minerals of copper and iron. Within a few weeks he had painted ‘The Levant Mine’.
£1,000 - £2,000
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Auction: John Tunnard – The Brian Whitton Collection Part Two, 25th Jun, 2026
After our great success in late April with "John Tunnard – The Brian Whitton Collection: Their Lives and Work", we are proud to bring to auction the remaining works by Tunnard from Brian's collection. It includes many early pieces from the 1930's, which very rarely come to market, a couple of fabulous Surrealist transitional pieces, right through to works completed in later life. As a whole, they offer a unique insight into the life and mind of the man; restless, curious, and living in his own world, yet profoundly connected to the world around him, both physically and conceptually.
Of particular interest are works from the post-war period, like “Matrix” and “Rack”, both classic ‘Tunnardian’ creations, blending his love of nature with surrealist sensibilities. This was a period where his disparate interests and mastery of experimentation, atmosphere, and materiality were held in balance to create works that are distinctively his.
The sale also includes work by his father, Jack, and his wife, 'Bob', as well as some rare ‘imprints’ from his time as a fabric printer in Cornwall in the 1930's and 1940s.
Suffice it to say, there's plenty to excite all Tunnard enthusiasts and connoisseurs.
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Tues 23/06/26 10am-3pm
Wed 24/06/26 by appointment
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