Ben Nicholson, O.M.

Gimpel Fils, London
James Kirkman
Crane Kalman Gallery, London
Private Collection, Sydney
Sale, Phillips London, 17th July 2001, lot 68, where acquired by the present owner

Bern, Kunsthalle, Ben Nicholson, 27th May - 2nd July 1961, cat. no.4;
Sydney, Rex Irwin Gallery, Rie, Coper, Nicholson, Caulfield, 1999, cat. no.29;
London, Crane Kalman Gallery, English Landscape Painting in the Twentieth Century, 8th June - 31st July 2004, (ex. cat.).

Original canvas. The canvas appears sound. There is some extremely minor rubbing apparent around the extreme edges of the work. There are a few very minor specks of surface dirt in one or two places. Subject to the above, the work appears to be in very good overall condition. Ultraviolet light reveals spots of retouching, primarily to the upper left and right quadrants, with further scattered flecks across the work. The work is presented in a painted wooden frame. Please telephone the department on +44 (0) 207 293 6424 if you have any questions regarding the present work.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

During the 1920s Ben Nicholson and his wife Winifred travelled extensively across Britain and the continent. Following their marriage in 1920 they journeyed to Lugano, Paris, London, Dymchurch and Sutton Verny, staying with friends and fellow artists and making new acquaintances. In 1923, though, they settled in Cumbria, purchasing Banks Head, a 17^th Century farmhouse on Hadrian’s Wall which they shared until 1931 and which was to remain Winifred’s home for the rest of her life.

It was here that Ben Nicholson began one of the most fruitful periods of his artistic career, capturing the luscious local landscape with a soft and painterly palette. He drew inspiration from the likes of Paul Cézanne and the French masters, whose work he had seen in London and Paris, as well as the great number of artist friends that visited the pair in their new family home. These included Paul Nash (with whom they had previously stayed with at Dymchurch in Kent), Ivon Hitchens and Christopher Wood.

Wood was to have the greatest lasting impression on the Nicholsons, Winifred in particular, providing a sense of raw naivety that is seen in works such as Banks Head – Cumbrian Landscape (1928, Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge) and 1930 (Cumberland Farm) (Brighton and Hove Museums) and influenced further by the pair’s encounter with Alfred Wallis in St Ives that year. Banks Head became an artistic retreat that fostered creative ideas, as Winifred later recalled: ‘We all three painted and thought of nothing else. Inspiration ran high and flew backwards and forwards from one to the other’ (Winifred Nicholson, ‘Blue was His Colour,' Unknown Colour, Paintings, Letters, Writings by Winifred Nicholson, Faber and Faber, London, 1987, p.86, quoted in Jovan Nicholson, Art and Life, exhibition catalogue, Dulwich Picture Gallery, London, 2013, p.29).

It is to the palette of Nash and Hitchens however that the present work is most heavily indebted, together with the bold modernist brushwork of Cézanne. The present work makes use of a light palette of cool colours, used earlier in his Lugano landscapes, but taking on a soft, muted quality that is at once English. The viewer is transported to a dewy, misty morning, as the fog lifts over the Northumberland hills. With soft planes of abstracted colour, and loose, gentle brushwork that serves to further emphasise the technique of the artist, Nicholson presents the landscape before him with a warm familiarity. Banks Head was a family home, into which their children were born and raised, and he depicts the landscape that surrounded it with great affection.