What the critics are saying about Ben Nicholson: From the Studio
This idiosyncratic exhibition at Pallant House in Chichester focuses on the inspiration Nicholson drew from ‘mundane’ household objects
The abstract painter Ben Nicholson (1894-1982) was one of this country’s most important modern artists, said Simon O’Hagan on The Arts Desk. He “played a key role in introducing cubism to British art”, and was closely linked with contemporaries such as Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth, to whom he was married for nearly 13 years.
This idiosyncratic exhibition at Pallant House in Chichester focuses on the inspiration he drew from an unlikely source: “mundane” household objects. Nicholson would return to certain items of kitchenware and tools and paint them repeatedly over the years as he developed his artistic style.
The show comprises more than 40 paintings, carved reliefs and works on paper, alongside some of the still-life objects that inspired them. The result is “a positive riot of mugs, jugs and glassware”, which allows us “to experience Nicholson’s world and see these objects as he saw them, as a vehicle for expressing some profound ideas and feelings”.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The exhibition adds up to a surprisingly “intimate portrayal” of Nicholson’s “long, productive and slightly peculiar life”, said Caroline Roux in the FT. We see that his taste for austerity extended to both his art and his belongings – a reaction to the “flamboyant Edwardian lifestyle” into which he was born.
At the show’s heart is a large vitrine containing some of his prized possessions, said Harriet Baker in Apollo – “a glass stoppered decanter, a wide-rimmed blue-striped mug, a pewter dish” – many of which became starting points for his paintings. A pale wooden relief from 1936 is displayed next to the “slender ceramic vessel” that inspired it, creating “a dialogue of circles in purest white”.
After he moved to St Ives with Hepworth in 1939, Nicholson withdrew from total abstraction in favour of “a surreally hybrid style”, merging still life with landscape painting. In his Cornish harbour scenes, jugs and crockery are “incorporated into the architecture of the town”.
Not every picture here represents “Nicholson at his best”, said Lucy Davies in The Daily Telegraph. Nevertheless, this is a unique opportunity “to see an artist’s mind at work”. It’s especially interesting when a particular object crops up repeatedly, sometimes in works created decades apart. A souvenir teacup commemorating Edward VII and Queen Alexandra reappears in a landscape and a still life painted in 1945; the glass stem of a goblet is “instantly recognisable” in both a 1972 drawing and a 1981 oil wash. Perhaps most remarkably, a “lustrous” early oil from 1914 depicts a“dowdy, striped mochaware jug” gleaming against a dark background.
A decade later, he would capture the same object again in one of his first abstract paintings, 1924 (painting-trout). This time, he reduces its form down to its “distinctive blue and buff-coloured bandings” and “a single patterned rectangle”. When we actually see the jug itself, it is as if one of Holbein’s Ambassadors “had stepped out of their gilt frame and into the gallery”.
This is an “evocative” exhibition that shows how Nicholson transformed the humblest of implements into “fiercely experimental modern art”.
Pallant House Gallery, Chichester (01243-774557, pallant.org.uk). Until 24 October
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
'Republicans want to silence Israel's opponents'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
Poland, Germany nab alleged anti-Ukraine spies
Speed Read A man was arrested over a supposed Russian plot to kill Ukrainian President Zelenskyy
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Today's political cartoons - April 19, 2024
Cartoons Friday's cartoons - priority delivery, USPS on fire, and more
By The Week US Published
-
6 serene homes in Vermont
Features Featuring a four-level Shaker barn in Hartland and a Scandinavian-inspired home in Stowe
By The Week US Published
-
Amanda Montell's 6 favorite books that will expand your knowledge
Feature The linguist recommends works by Mary Roach, Alice Carrière, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Rowan Beaird recommends 6 compelling books from the 1950s
Feature The author recommends works by Patricia Highsmith, Shirley Jackson, and more
By The Week US Published
-
6 spacious homes with great rec rooms
Feature Featuring a suspended fireplace in Arizona and a marine-themed home in Maine
By The Week Published
-
Recipe: gnocchi di spinaci (spinach gnocchi)
The Week Recommends Forget the potatoes for this gnocchi made of the 'classic combination' of spinach and ricotta
By The Week UK Published
-
Stephen Graham Jones' 6 scary books with deeper meanings
Feature The best-selling author recommends works by Stephen King, Sara Gran, and more
By The Week US Published
-
6 stylish homes on the top floor
Feature Featuring a 1925 art deco high-rise in San Francisco and a factory-turned-home in Los Angeles
By The Week US Published
-
The Anxious Generation: US psychologist Jonathan Haidt's 'urgent and essential' new book
The Week Recommends Haidt calls out 'the Great Rewiring of Childhood' phenomenon
By The Week UK Published