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

Sept. 1953 (Balearic)

Details

Ben Nicholson, O.M. (1894-1982)
Sept. 1953 (Balearic)
signed, dated and titled 'Ben Nicholson Sept 14 - 53 (Balearic)' (on the reverse)
oil on canvas
43 x 47½in. (109 x 120cm.)
Painted on 14 September 1953

Provenance

C. S. Reddihough Esq., Ilkley, Yorkshire.
Gimpel Fils Gallery, London.

Literature

H. Read (ed.), Ben Nicholson: Work Since 1947, vol. 2, London, 1956, no. 94 (illustrated).
J. Lewison, Ben Nicholson, Oxford, 1991, no. 122 (illustrated in colour p. 128).
N. Lynton, Ben Nicholson, London, 1993, p. 271 (illustrated in colour pl. 257).

Exhibited

Venice, XXVII Biennale, 1954, no. 48.
London, Tate Gallery, Ben Nicholson, 1955.
Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, Ben Nicholson, 1954, no. 56 (lent by C. S. Reddihough via The British Council). This exhibition later travelled to Paris, Musée d'Art Moderne; Brussels, Palais des Beaux Arts; and Zurich, Kunsthalle.
Zurich, Galerie Charles Lienhard, Feb. 1959 (lent by C. S. Reddihough). Hanover, Kestner-Gesellschaft, Ben Nicholson, 1959, no. 39. This exhibition later travelled to Mannheim, Städtische Kunsthalle; Hamburg, Kunstverein Hamburg; and Essen, Folkwang Museum.
Bern, Kunsthalle Berne, Ben Nicholson, July 1961, no. 60.
Glasgow, Royal Glasgow Institute of Fine Arts, 1961.
Eindhoven, Stedelijk van Abbe Museum, 1962, no. 60.
Zurich, Kunstgilde Zurich (lent by Gimpel Fils on behalf of C. S. Reddihough).
London, Gimpel Fils, A Decade with Ben Nicholson, April 1963, no. 12.
Bottrop, Joseph Albers Museum, Ben Nicholson, Oct.-Dec. 1989, no. 19 (illustrated in colour).
Mendrisio, Museo d'arte Mendrisio, Ben Nicholson oper dal 1921 al 1981, 1993 (illustrated in colour on the cover of the exhibition catalogue and in black and white on p. 25).
Barcelona, Fundacío 'La Caixa', Europa de Postguerra 1945-1965, Art Després del Diluvi, May-July 1995.

Lot Essay

Sept. 1953 (Balearic) was painted by Nicholson for his retrospective at the Venice Biennale of 1954. It was amongst a group of works by Nicholson selected by The British Council to be exhibited beside the best of Francis Bacon and Lucien Freud. The Nicholson exhibition was met with tremendous critical acclaim. He won the coveted Ulisse award which led to an unprecedented number of museum shows including exhibitions at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, the Musée Nationale d'Art Moderne, Paris, the Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels and the Kunsthaus Zurich. Sept. 1953 (Balearic) was included in each of these shows. Thereafter it has been exhibited in major Nicholson exhibitions all over Europe.

Prior to the Venice Biennale in 1954 the painting had already been acquired by the celebrated collector Cyril Reddihough who was amongst Nicholson's greatest patrons. It seems likely that Reddihough persuaded Nicholson to part with the picture very soon after he had finished it in his St Ives studio in 1953.

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