Ben Nicholson, O.M.

A gift from the artist to the family of the present owner and thence by descent

Hanover, Kestner-Gesellschaft, Ben Nicholson, 26 February - 5 April 1959, no.17, with tour to Essen, Mannheim and Hamburg.

The following condition report was prepared by the restorer Hamish Dewar. Structural Condition The canvas is unlined on what is undoubtedly the original wooden keyed stretcher. The reverse of the canvas has a layer of preparation which is characteristic of the artist. The structural condition is stable. Paint surface The paint surface fluoresces slightly unevenly but not in a nature characteristic of retouching and I am confident that the paint surface is original and perhaps partially reworked by the artist. This is most evident in the pale form in the centre of the composition. Summary The painting would therefore appear to be in excellent and original condition and no work is required. Please telephone the department on 020 7293 5381 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."

Painted in 1934, the present work dates from a period when Nicholson's still life paintings were becoming increasingly complex and abstracted. His visits to Paris had given him a wide perspective on a number of movements that interested him, and whilst the example of the Cubists, and especially Braque, was still very important (indeed he had met him for the first time in January 1933), the more abstracted element in the paintings of this period suggest that Nicholson was becoming increasingly aware of the differing groups forming in the artistic circles of the city. His contacts with more abstract artists such as Arp, Brancusi and Helion indicate  that his interests were moving towards the non-referential, and in mid-1933 both he and Hepworth were invited to join Abstraction-Creation, an association of forward looking painters and sculptors. His move towards the genesis of his earliest reliefs in December 1933 drew on a variety of sources, but as these were developing alongside his paintings, those same sources also inform the paintings of the period.

Thus, 1934 (pewter) allows us a window into Nicholson's journey at this time. The basic still life elements are reduced to a series of forms which, apart from the vessel to the far right of the composition, have mostly become simplified to a point where their original sources are lost. These are then combined around the central circular form, a device that centres the rather freize-like format of the painting but which also connects the work with the disc forms in his contemporary reliefs. The flatness of this form is in deliberate contrast to the rest of the image, where the surface is scraped and rubbed to give texture beside the illusionistic shadow forms that also help to suggest depth.

Yet within this almost completely abstracted image there is still a suggestion of the link to the real that almost never leaves Nicholson's paintings. Even the subtitle with its reference to the soft, dull lustre that is so particular to the metal pewter immediately brings us back to a tangible reality and does perhaps also hint at the links back into an earlier time. At first glance one would not expect to find much common ground between the still life work of Ben Nicholson and his father, Sir William Nicholson. Whilst the relationship between the two, both artistically and personally, was often troubled, Ben's paintings do indeed demonstrate a way of looking and composing his still life objects that echoes those of his father. Indeed the choice of pewter for the title does make one immediately think of the masterly rendering of reflective surfaces that is such a distinctive feature of the older artist's work. Like his father, Nicholson also seems to have had a number of studio props that he kept throughout his career and whose distinctive forms appear in works that are many years apart. For instance, here the vessel to the right appears to be drawn from the same source as that which is the central form of 1929 (still-life – jug and playing-cards) (private collection).