October 12-1952 - Ben Nicholson
Theme : Art and Culture

Ben Nicholson (1894 - 1982) led the first generation of modern artists in Britain, along with sculptors Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore. They introduced the ideals of international modernism as exemplified by e.g. the Bauhaus, De Stijl and Cubism. The influence of geometric abstraction is apparent in this work. Nicholson was a member of 'Unit One' (1933), a group of artists representing the British avant-garde in an international context. He and Hepworth were also invited to join the French abstract artists' group 'Abstraction-Création' (1935). By the late 1930s Nicholson was at the core of an avant-garde community established in Hampstead. Other members included Mondrian and Gabo, with whom Nicholson edited Circle: an International Survey of Constructive Art (1935) which aimed to show the contribution modern art could make to rebuilding the world following the events of the 1930s. During WWII Nicholson settled in St. Ives, Cornwall establishing the now famous artistic centre.
© Angela Verren-Taunt 2004. All Rights Reserved, DACS

This Item is located at the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery in the Permanent Collection