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Lot Essay
Ben Nicholson’s legacy as one of the defining figures of British modernism rests above all on his carved reliefs. In these works, geometry, color and texture become disciplined expressions of thought, shaped by a lifelong attention to landscape. Nicholson first explored working on reliefs in the 1930s, and it remained of profound importance to him. His return to the medium in his final decades produced some of the most observant and accomplished works of his career.
It was in Switzerland that Nicholson’s late reliefs first flourished. In 1957 he married the German photographer Felicitas Volger, and the following spring the couple left St Ives for Brissago, in the Ticino, where they moved into their modernist house, Casa alla Rocca, looking out across the Lago Maggiore. The move prompted a renewed ambition and productivity for the artist, and the mountains and lake around him became a constant source of inspiration. His response to his new surroundings is best captured in his words: “The landscape is superb, especially in winter and when seen from the changing levels of the mountainside. The persistent sunlight, the bare trees seen against a translucent lake, the hard, rounded forms of the snow topped mountains, and perhaps with a late evening moon rising beyond in a pale, cerulean sky is entirely magical with the kind of poetry which I would like to find in my painting” (quoted in N. Lynton, Ben Nicholson, London, 1993, p. 311).
Austere yet luminous, Feb 69 (snow monolith) is a striking example of Nicholson’s engagement with the relief in these years. Rising as an upright form, it unites the geometric clarity of his celebrated reliefs from the 1930s with the textural sensitivity of his painting of this period. Rectangular planes are stacked upon one another, anchored by a darker square. Beneath it, the pale panel seems to emit light, recalling the winter sun across the snow covered mountains of Ticino.
The surface is as eloquent as the structure. Nicholson scraped and painted these panels until form and color became one, evoking textures of the natural world that so captivated him. The chalky whites and soft greys of Feb 69 (snow monolith) seem to grow out of the material, keeping with his love for the natural “inner color of wood and stone” (Ben Nicholson New Reliefs, exh. cat., Marlborough Fine Art, London, 1971, p. 7). Such restraint reveals the depth of Nicholson’s vision.
Peter Khoroche described the works from this period as “not so much landscapes as mindscapes”, objects that invite contemplation rather than simply depict a view (P. Khoroche, Ben Nicholson 'chasing out something alive', Cambridge, Kettle's Yard, 2002, p. 38). In Feb 69 (snow monolith) each element is thoughtfully placed and brought to life by the play of light across its layered planes, resulting into a poised work of quiet monumentality.
It was in Switzerland that Nicholson’s late reliefs first flourished. In 1957 he married the German photographer Felicitas Volger, and the following spring the couple left St Ives for Brissago, in the Ticino, where they moved into their modernist house, Casa alla Rocca, looking out across the Lago Maggiore. The move prompted a renewed ambition and productivity for the artist, and the mountains and lake around him became a constant source of inspiration. His response to his new surroundings is best captured in his words: “The landscape is superb, especially in winter and when seen from the changing levels of the mountainside. The persistent sunlight, the bare trees seen against a translucent lake, the hard, rounded forms of the snow topped mountains, and perhaps with a late evening moon rising beyond in a pale, cerulean sky is entirely magical with the kind of poetry which I would like to find in my painting” (quoted in N. Lynton, Ben Nicholson, London, 1993, p. 311).
Austere yet luminous, Feb 69 (snow monolith) is a striking example of Nicholson’s engagement with the relief in these years. Rising as an upright form, it unites the geometric clarity of his celebrated reliefs from the 1930s with the textural sensitivity of his painting of this period. Rectangular planes are stacked upon one another, anchored by a darker square. Beneath it, the pale panel seems to emit light, recalling the winter sun across the snow covered mountains of Ticino.
The surface is as eloquent as the structure. Nicholson scraped and painted these panels until form and color became one, evoking textures of the natural world that so captivated him. The chalky whites and soft greys of Feb 69 (snow monolith) seem to grow out of the material, keeping with his love for the natural “inner color of wood and stone” (Ben Nicholson New Reliefs, exh. cat., Marlborough Fine Art, London, 1971, p. 7). Such restraint reveals the depth of Nicholson’s vision.
Peter Khoroche described the works from this period as “not so much landscapes as mindscapes”, objects that invite contemplation rather than simply depict a view (P. Khoroche, Ben Nicholson 'chasing out something alive', Cambridge, Kettle's Yard, 2002, p. 38). In Feb 69 (snow monolith) each element is thoughtfully placed and brought to life by the play of light across its layered planes, resulting into a poised work of quiet monumentality.