Pink Lustre with Carnations

The use of dry, opaque paint recalls Nicholson's Spanish paintings of early 1936 such as The Road to Zamaramala (Sheffield City Art Galleries) but the subject of carnations in a Nineteenth century mottled lustre jug of the type known as Sunderland ware indicates that it must have been painted on his return to England. Inspired by his Spanish travels, Nicholson's interest in shadows in still life is here displayed in a particularly dramatic form. This shadow seems to have almost taken on an independent life of its own, underlined by the way it is bisected near the base of the jug, presumably in deference to the handle. It would not be out of place in a film by Alfred Hitchcock. (Or might it suggest a figure from a Punch and Judy show?) There is also the animated surface texture of the white area on which the jug stands, with sweeps of impasto. For the carnations the brush end has been used to scratch through the red and white paint which is so dry as to look like plaster of Paris. Whether the central flower has suffered paint loss, or is as the artist intended, is not clear. The ample curves of the pink lustre jug create an area of relative calm amid the nervous activity of surface paint and the elongated shadow.

Nicholson's visit to Spain was cut short by the Civil War, as his companion Marguerite Steen describes in her biography of the artist. Given that his work has been dated to mid 1936 on stylistic grounds it may be fanciful to see impact of the Spanish Civil War on this still life. It was around this date, in June 1936, that Nicholson received a knighthood in the Birthday Honours List.