Ben Nicholson, O.M.

A gift from the Artist to Herbert Read, and thence by descent to the present owner

Leeds, Leeds City Art Galleries, Herbert Read: A British Vision of World Art, 25th November 1993 - 5th February 1994, cat. no.167.

Benedict Read and David Thistlewood (eds.), Herbert Read: A British Vision of World Art, Leeds City Art Galleries in association with Lund Humphries, London, 1993, p.11., illustrated pl.12, p.17.

The sheet is sound and has been attached to the artist's prepared backboard in the corners. There are some very minor wrinkles across the surface. The sheet has slightly discoloured in the corners which correspond to old adhesive on the reverse. In good original condition. Held under glass in a painted wood frame with a grey backing; unexamined out of frame. Please telephone the department on 020 7293 6424 if you have any questions regarding the present work.
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Sir Herbert Read was one of the leading art critics of his generation and a prolific writer. He championed the work of British artists including Nicholson, Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore and Paul Nash. In 1948 Read edited the first of two major volumes on Nicholson's art published by Lund Humphries and Nicholson was continuously indebted to his support.

In the present work Nicholson adjoins his own design to one of Read's poems, something similarly done by Hepworth in The Poet Reading to his Children (Leeds City Art Galleries) and Moore in 1945 (Private Collection), which are both directly tied to Read's poetry. Nicholson had experimented to great success with the printed medium from the late 1920s, ably combining the printed and painted media. Nicholson commonly reworked his printing proofs which were never fully editioned, adding ink and oil washes to create new and unique images which he termed 'mixed media on an etched ground'.  

The title of the present work refers to Nicholson's residence in Switzerland, where he moved to from St Ives in 1958. Located on Lago Maggiore just north of the Italian border, he lived there with his third wife, Felicitas Vogler, whom he married in 1957.