Ben Nicholson

>Ben Nicholson 2005-04-19T19:17:10Z Nicke Lilltroll + [[sv:Ben Nicholson]] '''Ben Nicholson''' ([[April 10]], [[1894]] - [[February 6]], [[1982]]), British abstract painter, was born in [[Denham, Buckinghamshire]]. His father was the painter [[William Nicholson (artist)|Sir William Nicholson]], and his sister [[Nancy Nicholson]]. The family moved to [[London]] in [[1896]]. He travelled to [[New York]] in [[1917]] for an operation on his [[tonsils]], then visited other American cities, returning to England in [[1918]]. From [[1920]] to [[1938]] he was married to the painter [[Winifred Nicholson]] and lived in London. After his first exhibition of figurative works in London in 1922, his work began to be influenced by Synthetic [[Cubism]], and later by the primitive style of [[Henri Rousseau|Rousseau]]. In London, Nicholson met the sculptors [[Barbara Hepworth]] and [[Henry Moore]]. On visits to [[Paris]] he met [[Piet Mondrian|Mondrian]], whose work in the [[neoplasticism|neoplastic]] style was to influence him in an abstract direction, and [[Pablo Picasso|Picasso]], whose [[cubism]] would also find its way into his work. His gift, however, was the ability to incorporate these European trends into a new style that was recognizably his own. He first visited [[St. Ives, Cornwall]] in [[1928]], where he met the fisherman and painter [[Alfred Wallis]]. In Paris in [[1933]] he made his first wood relief, ''White Relief'', which contained only right angles and circles. In [[1934]] he was one of the editors of ''CIRCLE'', an influential monograph on [[constructivism|constructivist]] art and one of the founding documents of modern art. He was also a member of the artists' group ''Unit One''. From [[1938]] to [[1951]] he was married to Hepworth. In [[1939]] Nicholson moved to [[St. Ives, Cornwall]] where a community of artists, including [[John Piper (artist)|John Piper]], soon developed. Nicholson began by painting landscapes and coloured abstract reliefs, and then turned to linear abstract paintings. He believed that abstract art should be enjoyed by the general public, as shown by the Nicholson Wall, a [[mural]] he created for the garden of Sutton Place in [[Guildford]], [[Surrey]]. In [[1943]] he joined the St. Ives Society of Artists. A retrospective exhibition of his work was shown at the [[Tate Gallery]] in London in [[1955]]. Nicholson married the photographer Felicitas Vogler in [[1957]] and moved to [[Castagnola]], [[Switzerland]], in [[1958]]. In [[1968]] he received the British [[Order of Merit]] (OM). In [[1971]] he separated from Vogler and moved to [[Cambridge]]. In [[1977]] he divorced. He died in London and was cremated at [[Golders Green]] cemetery. Some of Nicholson's works can be seen at the [[Tate St Ives]] gallery, and at [[Kettle's Yard]] Art Gallery in [[Cambridge]]. ==References== *''Ben Nicholson: Razor Edge'' ([[1985]] film) *[http://www.britainunlimited.com/Biogs/Nicholson.htm Detailed timeline at Britain Unlimited 2003-09-14] *Norbert Lynton, ''Ben Nicholson'' (2001, with 250 colour plates, ISBN 0714828130) [[Category:1894 births|Nicholson, Ben]] [[Category:1982 deaths|Nicholson, Ben]] [[Category:British painters|Nicholson, Ben]] [[de:Ben Nicholson]] [[es:Ben Nicholson]] [[sv:Ben Nicholson]]