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拍品專文
We are very grateful to Rachel Smith, Lee Beard and Nancy Elder for their assistance in cataloguing this lot.
Ben Nicholson met the German journalist and photographer Felicitas Vogler, during her visit to St Ives in 1957. Their mutual appreciation of art and nature fostered an immediate connection, and within two months, they were married. The couple subsequently relocated to the Ticino region of Switzerland, a move that reinvigorated Nicholson’s creative practice. Surrounded by the cultural milieu of Europe, with access to an international network of artists, Nicholson’s work from the period refers back to the abstraction of 1930s, when he was at the heart of London’s avant-garde. His appreciation for European modernism was matched by his delight in the dramatic, mountainous topography of the Swiss landscape. Captivated by the experience, Nicholson considered the landscape ‘superb, especially in winter and when seen from the change level of the mountainside – the persistent sunlight, the bare trees seen against a translucent lake, the hard, rounded forms of the snow-topped mountains, and perhaps with a late evening moon rising beyond in a pale, cerulean sky – is entirely magical and with the kind of poetry that I would like to find in my paintings’ (the artist quoted in Lee Beard, Ben Nicholson: Writings and Ideas, London, 2019, p. 81).
Building upon his landscape-still-lifes of the late 1940s and early 1950s, Nicholson’s work during his time in Switzerland reveals a renewed emphasis on line. In Nov 61 (octagonal), Nicholson abstracts the traditional elements of a still life - such as a vase and mug - through simple, unadorned lines that offer little suggestion of scale or mass. The composition creates a sense of spatial ambiguity, with smaller objects positioned behind larger ones. The artist’s engagement with line is evident in the playful echo of forms, as seen in the curve of a smaller mug’s handle mirroring that of a larger one. This subtle interplay of depth recalls his earlier relief works, though here the differentiation is more refined, achieved through variations in colour and texture. In a post-Cubist manner, Nicholson delineates the still life from the surrounding composition through planes of white, evoking forms that remain suggestive rather than fully articulated. The suggestion of a landscape beyond the still life emerges through a simple juxtaposition of colours, subtly implying a horizon line. This expansive quality in the composition evokes Nicholson’s appreciation for the panoramic vistas of the Swiss mountains, reflecting his ongoing fascination with landscape. Norbert Lynton draws attention to the multiple layers of activity within Nicholson’s paintings, observing that ‘our attention is sought first by the play of lines that represent the still life, secondly by the supporting planes that were the table, and only thirdly by the wider setting and its implications of space and location’ (N. Lynton, Ben Nicholson, London, 1993, p. 252). Each element in the composition is reduced to its essence, stripping away much of its recognisable form. Nov 61 (octagonal) showcases Nicholson’s confidence in creating an artistic equivalent – rather than direct interpretation – of the still life and landscape he so adored.
Ben Nicholson met the German journalist and photographer Felicitas Vogler, during her visit to St Ives in 1957. Their mutual appreciation of art and nature fostered an immediate connection, and within two months, they were married. The couple subsequently relocated to the Ticino region of Switzerland, a move that reinvigorated Nicholson’s creative practice. Surrounded by the cultural milieu of Europe, with access to an international network of artists, Nicholson’s work from the period refers back to the abstraction of 1930s, when he was at the heart of London’s avant-garde. His appreciation for European modernism was matched by his delight in the dramatic, mountainous topography of the Swiss landscape. Captivated by the experience, Nicholson considered the landscape ‘superb, especially in winter and when seen from the change level of the mountainside – the persistent sunlight, the bare trees seen against a translucent lake, the hard, rounded forms of the snow-topped mountains, and perhaps with a late evening moon rising beyond in a pale, cerulean sky – is entirely magical and with the kind of poetry that I would like to find in my paintings’ (the artist quoted in Lee Beard, Ben Nicholson: Writings and Ideas, London, 2019, p. 81).
Building upon his landscape-still-lifes of the late 1940s and early 1950s, Nicholson’s work during his time in Switzerland reveals a renewed emphasis on line. In Nov 61 (octagonal), Nicholson abstracts the traditional elements of a still life - such as a vase and mug - through simple, unadorned lines that offer little suggestion of scale or mass. The composition creates a sense of spatial ambiguity, with smaller objects positioned behind larger ones. The artist’s engagement with line is evident in the playful echo of forms, as seen in the curve of a smaller mug’s handle mirroring that of a larger one. This subtle interplay of depth recalls his earlier relief works, though here the differentiation is more refined, achieved through variations in colour and texture. In a post-Cubist manner, Nicholson delineates the still life from the surrounding composition through planes of white, evoking forms that remain suggestive rather than fully articulated. The suggestion of a landscape beyond the still life emerges through a simple juxtaposition of colours, subtly implying a horizon line. This expansive quality in the composition evokes Nicholson’s appreciation for the panoramic vistas of the Swiss mountains, reflecting his ongoing fascination with landscape. Norbert Lynton draws attention to the multiple layers of activity within Nicholson’s paintings, observing that ‘our attention is sought first by the play of lines that represent the still life, secondly by the supporting planes that were the table, and only thirdly by the wider setting and its implications of space and location’ (N. Lynton, Ben Nicholson, London, 1993, p. 252). Each element in the composition is reduced to its essence, stripping away much of its recognisable form. Nov 61 (octagonal) showcases Nicholson’s confidence in creating an artistic equivalent – rather than direct interpretation – of the still life and landscape he so adored.