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Notes

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This carved relief highlights Nicholson's interest in the formal construction of pictorial space. His arrangement of form and colour generates an ambiguous shallow space within the image, while the blue-greys and earth colours reflect the impact of the Cornish landscape.

Nicholson reintroduced colour to his reliefs after moving to Cornwall at the outbreak of the Second World War. Although he made carved reliefs throughout his career, it was the formal austerity of his earlier white reliefs that placed him in the vanguard of British modernism. Nicholson's association with important European modern artists such, as Mondrian, Gabo, Arp and Braque introduced their ideas into Britain. In 1937 Nicholson, Leslie Martin and Naum Gabo published 'Circle', a survey of Constructive art.

The Pier Arts Centre

Stromness

Title

1939 (painted relief)

Date

1939

Medium

oil on carved board

Measurements

H 91.4 x W 82.6 cm

Accession number

PAC 43

Acquisition method

gift from Margaret Gardiner, 1979

Work type

Painting

Inscription description

1. 'BELONGING TO / MARGARET GARDINER / BERNAL / 35 DOWNSHIRE HILL / LONDON / NW'. 2. 'TOP / ↑'. 3. 'TOP / ↑ / Ben Nicholson 1939-'. 4. 'cat 4 / 42 x 39" / [address label for Margaret Gardiner, partially erased by brown tape]'. 5. Lankam's [? script difficult to read] / please dispatch to the Director, / INSTITUTE OF CONTEPORARY ART / 16 Dover St, London W1 / by pass train / insure for £450'. 6. 'Nicholson / 7 Mall Studios / Parkhill, Rd NW3 London_'. 7. 'MARGARET GARDINER BERNAL / 35, DOWNSHIRE

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