The Snowstorm: Spiral Motif in Black and White

Victor Pasmore’s oscillation between figurative and abstract art is apparent in this painting, and is reflected in the two parts of the work’s title. The prominent horizontal line bisecting the centre of the painting is suggestive of landscape, and the swirling forms can be linked back to some of the most powerful paintings of natural phenomena in art: Leonardo’s deluge studies, Hokusai’s wave prints and Turner’s sea storm paintings. The golden section has been used to establish the position of the main spiral at the lower right, while another spiral is placed exactly in the centre.

However, despite the clear references to nature evident in this painting, Pasmore was insistent that such works were not abstracted from nature, but were created in ‘relation to natural forms’. His aim was to create a new art that recreated the beauty of nature and was ‘real and actual rather than imitative and illusionary’.