During World War II, John Tunnard served in the coast guard off the south coast of Cornwall, England. The experience of gazing at the nighttime sea and sky may account for the frequency of marine subjects in his work during this period. A true Surrealist, Tunnard painted from his imagination, explaining, “The objects you see in my paintings and which you say do not exist do in fact exist, but in a world of my own. This world of my own is just as natural to me as your world is to you.”
