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Property belonging to the Collection of Mr and Mrs Frank H. Porter Trust Estate (lots 206 - 208) Although Frank H. Porter and Nancy L. Porter were not born in Cleveland, their lives would become integrally linked with the city. Frank grew up in Cleveland Heights and his wife experienced the deprivations of the Great Depression of the 1930s. After World War II Frank began to work for his father-in-law's company, Central Cadillac and within a short period of time, they transformed the business into the largest cadillac dealership in Ohio. In conjunction with her husband's widening business interests Nancy became a "career volunteer" serving on the boards of thirteen different Cleveland organizations and charities. In the 1960s Frank's business interests expanded into real estate and over the next few years he was instrumental in the development of a number of important buildings in and around Cleveland, including Walter Gropius' landmark Tower East in Shaker Heights. The ever widening horizons of the Porter's personal and professional interests in the 1960s led them to a fascination with modern art. The Porters were important figures in the cultural world of Cleveland. They were closely affiliated with the Cleveland Museum of Art, and were members of the International Council of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Their steadfast patronage of charitable causes was equally profound, and accordingly, the proceeds from the paintings and sculpture in this sale will benefit the Cleveland Foundation.

Ben Nicholson, O.M. (1894-1982)

1955-56 (umber & light red)

Details

Ben Nicholson, O.M. (1894-1982)
1955-56 (umber & light red)
signed, inscribed and dated 'Ben Nicholson/1955-56/(umber & light red)' (on the reverse)
oil and pencil on masonite relief
28 x 24 in. (71.1 x 60.8 cm.)

Provenance

with Galerie de France, Paris.
with Gimpel Fils Gallery, London, where purchased by Mr and Mrs Frank H. Porter in October 1963.

Exhibited

Paris, Galerie de France, Ben Nicholson, April 1956, no. 1.
Zurich, Galerie Charles Lienhard, Ben Nicholson, January - February 1959, no. 29: this exhibition toured to Hannover, Kestner-Gesellschaft, February - April 1959; Mannheim, Stadtische Kunsthall, April - May 1959; and Essen, Folkwang Museum.

Special notice

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price plus buyer's premium

Lot Essay

Jeremy Lewison comments on the reliefs that Nicholson made during the mid 1950s, 'their surfaces have been scraped and sanded so that the paint appears inherent in the wood. This manner is distinctively different from the coloured reliefs of the 1930s where no attempt was made to disguise the fact that paint was applied to the support. A visit to Brittany in 1948, where he visited some of the Neolithic sites, had made a considerable impression. He observed standing stones weathered by age and scarred by the action of nature. The experience was not fully assimilated until the 1960s but in the reliefs of the 1950s it was beginning to manifest itself. Often pale and chalky, these works feel remarkably northern European when compared with the southern [reliefs]. Nicholson had an uncanny ability not only to suggest different geographies but also different climates' (Exhibition catalogue, Ben Nicholson, Hayama, Museum of Modern Art, 2004, p. 108).

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