Ben Nicholson, O.M. 1894-1982

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 larger 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 1930’s and 1940s. However, the way in which Nicholson uses the forms, and the subtle balances of geometry, surface and colour are entirely new.

Whilst few of the large still life works of this period include major relief elements, the sense of receding and advancing planes is achieved through a bold use of tonal colouring in the background and a scrubbed and worked paint surface, and in the present painting, this is particularly free and provides a vigorous contrast with the cool, almost marble-like white-grey surface on which the four elements of the title sit.

Whilst many of the best-known still life works of the later 1950s, such as 1959 (Argolis) (Private Collection) and August 1956 (Val d’Orcia) (Collection Tate), have kept a very distinct table form in their composition, the present work breaks this down to an almost imperceptible level and therefore perhaps begins to lead towards the large abstract reliefs of the early 1960’s, such as Feb.1960 (ice-off-blue) (Collection Tate) where the still life elements have disappeared but the ghost of the table form remains.