BEN NICHOLSON, O.M. (1894-1982)

Ben Nicholson’s love of still life painting was inherited from his father, William Nicholson, along with the many jugs, pots, ornate glass, and vases that the older artist had collected for his studio. Ben used still life painting and the constant revision of the simple forms of jugs and cups to experiment with representation and abstraction throughout his career.

During the war years, Ben Nicholson had moved with his wife, Barbara Hepworth to St Ives, Cornwall. At first, they stayed with Adrian Stokes and Margaret Mellis and were unable to find room for a proper studio until they moved to a larger house in Carbis Bay, Chy-an-Kerris, in the summer of 1942. Here, they were able to work separately again, but it was not until Nicholson moved into Porthmeor Studios, St Ives, in 1949 that he was able to contemplate painting on a large scale.

In the present work, a small still life painting features the studio cups in the foreground on a table-top, with a suggestion of the rugged Cornish landscape, represented by a pencil line, on the horizon. The carved board support is also scumbled with washes of earthly tones, representing the texture of the stony ground and rocks on the coastline. In this way, Nicholson has painted a work which reflects the beauty of Cornwall in the soft blue tones of the jug and the area above it to suggest the sky, with a backdrop of earthy tones across the picture surface, suggesting the landscape.