Ben Nicholson, O.M.

Private Collection, London, circa the 1980s, and thence by descent to the present owner

Herbert Read (intro.), Ben Nicholson, Work Since 1947, Vol.2, Lund Humphries, London, 1956, cat. no.72, illustrated (as 1949-52 (St Ives)).

The sheet appears sound. The sheet has been affixed to the mount with tabs at the reverse of the upper horizontal edge. There is evidence of old adhesive tape at the upper and lower edges of the reverse of the sheet. The lower edge of the sheet is slightly uneven. This appears to be consistent with the artist's working materials. There are also three pinholes, one of which is torn, which appear to be consistent with the artist's working method. There are several small losses to the white surface of the paper. The largest of these is at the lower right edge and measures approximately 1cm., there are further small losses in the sea and at the top of the mug's handle. The artist has drawn over these losses and therefore they are likely to be intrinsic to the artist's working materials. There is a small crease in the upper left corner of the sheet and some further small scuffs and surface losses at the extreme edges of the work. There is some studio detritus to the sheet at the centre of the sky and at the upper edge. With the exception of the above the work appears to be in very good original condition and the graphite is strong and fresh. The work is floated in a simple wooden frame with painted backboard, held under glass. Please contact the department on +44 (0) 207 293 6424 if you have any questions regarding the present work.
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Having first 'discovered' the charms of St Ives with Christopher Wood in 1928, Nicholson moved down permanently from London in 1939, shortly after the outbreak of World War II. Initially he and his family stayed with Adrian Stokes in Little Parc Owles in Carbis Bay. The town had a profound effect on his work. Almost from the moment of arrival he began to turn away from the severity, purity, and strictly abstract structure of his earlier works. The scenery captured his imagination and he made paintings and drawings of the harbours and landscapes of Cornwall, as well as still lifes in an abstracted form of late Cubism, in which the objects are indicated by overlapping linear silhouettes.

Despite its title, 1947-52 St Ives is likely to have been executed in 1951 or 1952, soon after Nicholson’s divorce from his second wife Barbara Hepworth. This was a time of personal upheaval for the artist: he had recently moved to a new home called Trezion, situated at the top of Salubrious Place, a steep alley in St Ives. The vantage point provided Nicholson with a panoramic view over the town. The scene was obviously very familiar to him, but the new perspective presented a fresh and fun new subject for his work. It offered the perfect combination of foreground and distance, inside and outside. In the present drawing he weaves together selected foreground details and the view in the distance, merging landscape and still life until they become interchangeable. We look through a still life with mug and goblet on the windowsill, over the large geometric roof tops of the houses below and out to the harbour with its bobbing boats. In the distance is the other side of the bay and the Godrevy lighthouse is just visible at the far left side of the composition. Near and far are concertinaed with amazing dexterity onto the flat plane of the paper. The drawing is characterised by a strong, continuous line, which sinuously defines form and space without a break. Shading is used sparingly and any illusion of volumetric mass is simply suggested by the interweaving lines. While long, meandering lines define the main forms, carefully selected details inject character and a sense of distance. This geometry is equal to several other masterpieces dotted through the 1950s, and yet the work still retains its picture-postcard-like beauty. 

In its sophisticated exploration of space, Nicholson’s drawing style provides the common link between his landscape paintings, abstract compositions and painted reliefs. Drawing was an important part of Nicholson’s artistic repertoire. More than simply preparatory or exploratory tools, drawings to him were full-blown works of art, and the status they were accorded in his carefully choreographed publications reflects that. Indeed, the sense that drawing was at the heart of his practice might be confirmed by the way he gave it a privileged status in his painting as well as the drawings themselves. From the early 1920s to the late 1950s he would draw through and over the paint layer of a work, upsetting the conventional hierarchies.