Ben Nicholson, O.M.

Michel Seuphor, Paris
James Kirkman, from whom acquired by Gallery Kasahara, Osaka, in the 1970s
Private Collection, Osaka

Venice, British Pavilion, XXVII. Biennale Internazionale d'Arte di Venezia, 1954, cat. no.51, with Arts Council tour to Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Musée d'Art Moderne, Paris, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels and Kunsthalle, Zurich;
The Hague, Gemeentemuseum, cat. no.130 (details untraced); 
Paris, Musée de Saint-Étienne, Art Abstrait: Les Premières Générations 1910 - 1939, April - May 1957, cat. no.165.

Herbert Read (intro.), Ben Nicholson, Work Since 1947, Vol.2, Lund Humphries, London, 1956, cat. no.103, illustrated.

Not examined out of the frame. The work appears to be in excellent original condition. Ultraviolet light reveals an area of fluorescence just above the centre of the lower edge, which appears to be inkeeping with the artist's technique. The work is presented in the original square profile, butt joined, wooden frame. Please contact 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."

Nicholson made his first relief on a trip to Paris in 1933. Whilst working on a painting, part of the thick white prepared ground chipped off, leaving two distinct levels, inspiring him to make a series of reliefs in the following years. This happy accident was to prove a decisive turning point for his work. His minimalist white reliefs of the 1930s established Nicholson as a major international figure at the centre of the abstract modernist movement with connections to the leading lights of European Modernism. By the outbreak of the Second World War, Nicholson's standing was such that it was at his invitation that Mondrian came to London. 

Despite the onset of war and with it the virtual collapse of the art market and the limitations for a international artistic dialogue, Nicholson was determined to keep the flame of modernism alight. His move to St Ives in 1939 had a profound effect on his art and during this period there was a distinct change in his approach to his reliefs. Instead of the painted white reliefs of the 1930s, Nicholson began to produce works with a more varied palette of earthy colours. The surfaces of the board become more distressed through scrubbing, scratching and often they were lightly pitted. Whilst the early reliefs had mostly used natural woods, Nicholson turned increasingly to commercially produced composite hard boards. Harder than wood, Nicholson found this aided his process of creation by slowing and intensifying the physical approach to the material and thus allowing his expression of an idea to become more channelled. 

Elements from Nicholson's landscape painting began to infiltrate these works seen in their construction and in the varied use of colour. Here, the lightly applied, almost transparent, white-washed board is placed in contrast to the relief elements which are left in the main as exposed earthy-brown board with only a small area painted in a subtle muted-yellow pigment reminiscent of the sandy beaches of St Ives. This use of colour serves to enhance the sense of depth to the composition whilst also creating a luminous quality to the work, reflecting the clarity of light that attracted many painters to St Ives. The reference to landscape is also apparent from the title, Kerrowe, a small hamlet near Zennor. In this deceptively simple and balanced composition, Nicholson has utilised a highly tactile construction and subtle palette coupled with delicate pencil lines. His favourite abstract symbol of the circle is placed in contrast to the strong horizontal and vertical lines of the squares and rectangles that make up the remainder of the composition. 

It was works such as this that brought Nicholson international acclaim in the post-war period and as his standing grew, many important American private and institutional collections competed to acquire his best work. It is testament to the quality of this work that it was once in the collection of the Dutch art-critic Michel Seuphor, a scholar of Mondrian, who was an influential promoter of Abstraction both pre and post-war. Seuphor most likely would have seen the work at the Venice Biennale in 1954 where it was shown in a group show alongside paintings by Freud and Bacon. Nicholson was to win the Ulisse prize at the Biennale. Robert Melville, writing in the Architectural Review, September 1954, stated '... The Venetian light has not modified one's sense of the serene accomplishment of Ben Nicholson...'. Indeed Ben Nicholson was to feature in over forty exhibitions organised by the British Arts Council becoming one of the British Council's chief exports in the 1940s and 1950s.