For this research point I was asked to find out about Ben Nicholson, and why does he simplify still life forms and negative space and superimpose them on the Cornish landscape?
The answer was that he was influenced by Picasso and Alfred Wallis and was said to paint fruit on the window ledge of his Cornish home where he lived with his wife, sculptor, Barbara Hepworth.
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| 1935 Nicholson, Ben (1894-1982) |
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1940 (Cornish landscape) (mixed media, oil, pencil & relief on board) Nicholson, Ben (1894-1982) |
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1945 (playing cards) (pencil and paint on panel) Nicholson, Ben (1894-1982) |
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1950 (cups) (oil & pencil on canvas) Nicholson, Ben (1894-1982) |
Ben was born on 10th April 1982 in Denham Buckinghamshire and moved to London with his family in 1896 where he studied fine art. His first marriage to Winifred Nicholson lasted 18 years but ending in 1938. He spent some of his married life in Cumberland working mainly on white relief's. In 1938 he left his first wife and married Barbara Hepworth. He met her, Picasso and Henry Moore whilst in London and Alfred Wallis, who painted the Cornish landscape, when he moved to Cornwall . He incorporated Picasso's cubist style into landscapes as seen from his windows with items displayed on his window ledge. Ben's transformation into this unique style may never have happened should he have been called into the army. He was unable to serve due to ill health as he suffered from asthma.  |
Two Ships and a Steamer Sailing Past a Port, 1931 (oil on thin buff card) Wallis, Alfred (1855-1942) |
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Portrait of a Child with Doves, 1943 (oil on canvas) Picasso, Pablo (1881-1973) |
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Bottle of Old Marc and Newspaper, 1913 (pencil and pasted paper) Picasso, Pablo (1881-1973) |
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