Nicholson, Ben, 1894–1982

1943-45 (St Ives, Cornwall) 1943–5

Ben Nicholson (1894–1982)

Tate

(b Denham, Buckinghamshire, 10 Apr. 1894; d London, 6 Feb. 1982). British painter and maker of reliefs, one of his country's most distinguished pioneers of abstract art. From his father, Sir William Nicholson, he inherited a feeling for simple and fastidious still lifes, which with landscapes made up the bulk of his early work. In 1921, on a visit to Paris, he first saw Cubist paintings and in the following years his still lifes showed a personal response to the standard Cubist repertoire of objects such as jugs and glasses, which he arranged as flat shapes on the picture plane. Nicholson was also influenced by the naive painter Alfred Wallis, whose work he discovered in 1928 and whose roughly textured surfaces he emulated. From the early 1930s he turned to abstraction, partly because of the influence of Barbara Hepworth (they shared a studio from 1932 and married in 1938) and partly because of the impact of several visits he made to Paris at this time.

Text source: The Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford University Press)

Spots and stripes: the modernist works of Ben Nicholson
Caroline Maclean
The still life of a jug: inside the studio of Ben Nicholson
Louise Weller
Mabel Nicholson: overlooked talent and mother of a British art dynasty
Tim Cornwell
Margaret Gardiner: activist, benefactor and founder of the Pier Arts Centre
Carola Huttmann
Modern art at Swindon Museum and Art Gallery
Barbara Dixon
Helen Sutherland: patron, socialite and connoisseur
Francesca Peacock
Margaret Mellis and Wilhelmina Barns-Graham: two overlooked women artists of St Ives
Harriet Baker

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

Biography on Oxford Art Online

Biography on Wikipedia

Biography from Liss Llewellyn

Painter and relief-maker, born Benjamin Lauder Nicholson at Denham, Buckinghamshire the son of artist William Nicholson. He studied at the Slade School, 1910-11 and travelled extensively during the period 1912-18. In 1920 he married Winifred Dacre and held his first solo exhibition in 1922 at the Adelphi Gallery in London. During the 1920’s Nicholson made regular visits to Paris becoming more influenced by the abstract art he saw there. With Barbara Hepworth, whom he later married, he joined Abstraction-Creation, exhibited at the 7 & 5 Society and was a member of Unit One. In 1937 he co-edited 'Circle', a compendium of constructivist art. During the period 1939-58, he lived at Carbis Bay and while there showed with the Penwith Society of Arts. During his stay in Cornwall, he was also associated with the St. Ives School and artists such as Terry Frost, Barbara Hepworth, Roger Hilton, the Martin's, William Scott, Robert Adams and Adrian Heath in the Constructionism movement.

In his earlier days Ben Nicholson was a prolific exhibitor showing at the Lefevre Gallery, Grafton Galleries, Redfern Gallery, Marjorie Parr Gallery, NEAC, ISSPG, Arthur Tooth & Sons, Grosvenor Gallery, Leicester Galleries, the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool and latterly at the Crane Kalman Gallery and represented his country at the Venice Biennale on no fewer than six occasions.

Following his divorce from Hepworth, he married his 3rd wife the photographer Felicitas Vogler and lived in Switzerland. He was the father of triplets with Hepworth, Sarah, Simon and Rachel Nicholson born in 1934 the latter two of whom also became accomplished artists.

By this time Ben Nicholson had already fathered artist Kate Nicholson with his first wife Winifred. Nicholson was a founder member of the Crypt Group with his wife but resigned in 1949 two years after its formation.His work is in all major art collections around the world including Bolton Art Gallery, Cecil Higgins Art Gallery, Falmouth Art Gallery, Fitzwilliam Museum, GAC, Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Hepworth Wakefield, Hull University Art Collection, Kettle's Yard, Laing Art Gallery, Leeds University Collection, MIMA, MoMA, New York, Pallant House Gallery, Pier Arts Centre, Swindon Art Gallery, Tate Gallery and the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester.

With thanks to artbiogs.co.uk

^{Biography from Liss Llewellyn}

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