A graduate of the Royal College of Art, John Tunnard began his career as a textile designer before turning his attention to painting, first exhibiting at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1931. From the late 1930s and throughout the 1940s Tunnard's work displays an affinity with the influences of Surrealism, which is evident in Flood Tide (1946). Tunnard immersed himself in the continual developments taking shape in the modern art world, with his paintings employing a combination of styles and media including Constructivism, Surrealism, and contemporary British Sculpture. Although Tunnard did not formerly join the Surrealist movement he did exhibit alongside his contemporaries René Magritte and Max Ernst, with the critic Herbert Read describing Tunnard as a ‘dream landscape’ painter.

Tunnard’s paintings are held in public collections including Tate, London; Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Buffalo AKG Art Museum, New York; and the Museum of Modern Art, New York.