
Terry Frost only began to pursue an artistic career in his thirties, but he quickly established his reputation and rose to become one of the leading abstract artists of his time. Frost is best-remembered today for his association with the St. Ives artistic community, and for his vibrant, energetic abstract works inspired by Cornish light and landscapes.
Terry Frost was an accomplished painter and printmaker, and his work is especially popular in the United Kingdom. Prints dominate his market, accounting for 57% of his work sold at auction, where the majority of them fetch between £500 and £1,000, with some attaining even higher prices.
Below is a list of Terry Frost’s five most expensive prints sold at auction. If you own a Terry Frost print and would like to know more about how much it might be worth, or how to sell it, contact Mark Littler today.
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Eleven Poems By Frederico García Lorca (The Lorca Suite)
Originally titled Eleven Poems by Frederico García Lorca, this set of 1989 etchings has become known as The Lorca Suite. The prints were inspired by the work of the famous Spanish poet, Lorca, who is believed to have been murdered by Nationalist forces in 1936, at the start of the Spanish Civil War.
Terry Frost loved poetry, stating, “Poetry comes to me when I am alone… I think I have been more influenced by poetry than I realise.” He first encountered the work of Lorca in the 1970s, and the poet remained a profound source of inspiration to him, with Frost once saying: “I have been in love with Lorca’s poetry for fifteen years. Lorca awakened something in me… Images wrestle with me when I read Lorca, he probes the distance between each emotion.”
Each of the prints in this portfolio was designed to accompany a Lorca poem, and the etchings are widely considered among the best Frost ever produced. They are extremely popular at auction, with this set being sold by Sotheby’s in November 2005 for £10,800, setting a new record for Frost’s prints.

Madron Woodcuts
This set of 10 woodcuts in colours dates from 1998, just five years before Frost’s death, aged 87, and the same year that he was knighted. Like much of Frost’s work, the prints feature abstract, geometric forms and bold colours, including red and black, which he used frequently, and which to him symbolised “death and life, lust, passion, tenderness, fear, love.” The prints were sold by Christie’s in April 2012 for £10,000, double their top estimate.

Halzephron
This set of eight woodcuts and collages dates from 2001, just two years before Frost’s death, and they were sold by Bonhams in May 2019 for £9,500, exceeding their top estimate by £3,500. The prints were probably inspired by the area around the Halzephron Cliffs in Cornwall, a name which literally translates as “the cliffs of hell” and probably came from the numerous ships which were wrecked on the rugged coastline.
Frost spent much of his life working and living in Cornwall, and the landscape and light provided him with endless inspiration for his artistic endeavours. He was always extremely open about his love of the area; in a radio broadcast aired the same year these prints were published, Frost described his home as “that little bit of land where I am in Cornwall, about 7 miles wide, with the sea on three sides… I can see the sun rise and the sun set from where I am every day. I’m with the gods.”

Orchard Tambourine A
After the Second World War, when Frost was released from the German prisoner of war camp he’d been interred in, the artist spent some time studying at London’s Camberwell School of Art. Among his teachers were Victor Pasmore and Ben Nicholson, both of whom (Nicholson in particular) were associated with the St. Ives artistic community which Frost would later join. Though Frost developed his own style, it’s still possible to see the influence of the two older artists in this set of 25 abstract woodcuts from 1999, which were sold by Bloomsbury Auctions in March 2013 for £8,500.

Orchard Tambourine B
Echoing the shapes and colours of Orchard Tambourine A, this set of 25 woodcuts dates from three years later, in the penultimate year of Frost’s life, and it was sold by Bonhams in December 2014 for £8,000. The vivid colours of the prints hint at what Frost called “a state of delight in front of nature”, and they’re an indication of the unbridled joy in existence which seeps into so much of the artist’s work, partly as a reaction to the years he spent incarcerated as a prisoner of war.
The repetition of circles in the prints also allowed Frost to explore one of his favourite shapes; as he said, “A circle means so much to me; it’s become like a god. I can use it in any colour I want, and often I use it in black, because I think a black sun is beautiful.”
