Ben Nicholson, O.M. 1894-1982

Zurich, Galerie Charles Lienhard, Ben Nicholson, 1959, no.106 (as 'Farbrelief');
Hanover, Kestner-Gesellschaft, Ben Nicholson, 1959, no.95;
London, Redfern Gallery, 47^th Anniversary Exhibition, 1967, no.400 (as 'Composition 1958'). 

During the 1950s Nicholson and Hepworth had drifted apart, with both retaining independent studios and houses. In May 1957 a freelance radio journalist arrived in St.Ives to make a documentary about the town and the artists and, after Hepworth insisted that she ring Nicholson and arrange for an interview, Felicitas Vogler met Nicholson. She was in her mid-thirties and Nicholson sixty-three, but they struck up an immediate rapport and by July they were married. Nicholson had become increasingly disenchanted with the closeness of the colony in St.Ives and the relationship with Vogler provided an active reason to leave.

In March 1958, Nicholson and Vogler left St.Ives and settled in Switzerland. Their first home, in the village of Ronco, outside Ascona, was small and the majority of the work which Nicholson produced were drawings. However, he soon began working on small carved reliefs and the change from the work of the previous year in England is immediately noticeable. Perhaps the most obvious element is the apparent simplicity of the works, with a return to the geometric forms of the 1930s and 1940s. However, the way in which Nicholson uses the forms, and the subtle balances of geometry, surface and colour are entirely new. The present work employs an unusually high level of contrast between the carved and drawn circles of the upper section and the highly worked lower area, with the carving along the join between the two portions being so vigorous as to rub right through the board to reveal the support below. Whilst variations in surface texture are a key element of Nicholson’s reliefs, an abrasion of the surface to this extent is rare and seems to only appear in works produced when his personal circumstances were in a state of flux.