November 1946 (still life)

Details

Ben Nicholson (1894-1982)
November 1946 (still life)
indistinctly signed and dated 'Ben Nicholson Nov 25-46' (on the overlap)
oil and pencil on canvas
24 7/8 x 20 in. (63.2 x 50.8 cm.)
Painted in November 1946

Provenance

F.L.S. Murray, London, by 1948.
Galerie Beyeler, Basel (no. 2761).
Galleria d'Arte Galatea, Turin (no. 0435).
Marlborough Fine Art, London (no. XLOL 6501).
Acquired from the above by the late owner by 1971.

Literature

H. Read (intro.), Ben Nicholson, Paintings, reliefs, drawings, vol. I, London, 1948, no. 188 (illustrated).

Exhibited

London, Lefevre Gallery, Ben Nicholson, May 1947, no. 82 (illustrated).
Hanover, Kestner-Gesellschaft, 1959, no. 27; this exhibition later travelled to Mannheim, Hamburg and Essen.
Baltimore, The Baltimore Museum of Art, Rembrandt to Rivers, October - December 1971.

Special notice

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

Lot Essay

'The real revelation came on a visit to Paris about the end of 1920 or Spring 1921,' wrote Nicholson in 1948, 'I remember suddenly coming on a cubist Picasso at the end of a small upstairs room in Paul Rosenberg's gallery - it must have been a 1915 ptg - it was what seemed to me then completely abstract & in the centre there was an absolutely miraculous green - v.deep, v.potent and absolutely real - in fact none of the events in one's actual life had been more real than that - & it still remains the standard by which I judge any reality in my work. It was this ptg in among all the other exciting ptgs I saw in Paris 1921-22-23 that were such an inspiration' (quoted in M. de Sausmarez (ed.), Ben Nicholson, a Studio International special, London, 1969, p. 57).

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