May 1958 (Ronco 2 circles)
About this artwork
The 1950s saw Nicholson produce numerous paintings based on still lifes, but towards the end of the decade he returned to making reliefs. In 1958 Nicholson and his third wife Felicitas Vogler left St Ives and moved to the village of Ronco, Switzerland. Like many of his reliefs of this time, although abstract, they are informed by both still lifes and landscapes, often in ambivalent ways. Here, the formal composition can be seen as resembling a table-top viewed from above. Yet the colour scheme with its earthy grey and ocean blue, alongside the acknowledgement of a place in the title, call to mind the outdoors. There are also similarities to the work of the constructivists whom Nicholson knew, in the balancing of the circles and rectangular elements along a vertical axis.
Updated before 2020
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artist:Ben Nicholson (1894 - 1982) English
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title:May 1958 (Ronco 2 circles)
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date created:May 1958
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materials:Pencil and oil on carved board
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measurements:Framed: 33.30 x 40.20 x 4.50 cm
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object type:
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credit line:Bequeathed by Felicitas Vogler 2007
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accession number:GMA 4878
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gallery:
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subject:
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artwork photographed by:Antonia Reeve
Ben Nicholson
Ben Nicholson
Ben Nicholson was the eldest son of the painters William Nicholson and Mabel Pryde. He did not devote himself seriously to art until 1920, the same year he married the artist Winifred Roberts. His early works were simple and traditional still lifes. In 1921 he saw an exhibition of cubist paintings...