Ben Nicholson
(England 1894–1982)
- Title
- 1946 (still life - Alice through the looking glass)
- Other titles:
- Still life (Alice through the looking glass)
Still Life no. 6 - Year
- 1946
- Media category
- Painting
- Materials used
- oil and pencil on canvas
- Dimensions
-
68.6 x 76.2cm stretcher; 91.1 x 99.6 x 6.5cm frame
- Signature & date
- Not signed. Dated verso, "...1946".
- Credit
- Purchased 1949
- Accession number
- 8317
- Copyright
- © Ben Nicholson/DACS. Licensed by Viscopy, Australia
- Location
- Modern gallery
- Further information
The first thing the viewer notices about this painting is its graphic quality. With its dependence on pencil marks and pallid colours, it hardly seems painted at all. The artist organised his surface into clearly defined, overlapping shapes with little regard to depth or dimensional interplay. The illusionism which was once the mainstay of the oil-on-canvas technique has given way to its opposite, a kind of insubstantiality. Discoveries made by Picasso and Braque before 1914 inform this belated British example of cubism . Ben Nicholson painted his first abstract in 1924 and carved his first purist relief a decade later, though representational motifs occur throughout his career. His father was the Edwardian artist and illustrator, Sir William Nicholson, some of whose pictorial discretion he inherited. Painted near the famed enclave of artists at St Ives, Cornwall, this composition is as devoid of painterly excess and vulgar display as it is full of nuance.
AGNSW Handbook, 1999.
- Provenance (2)
-
The British Council (England), 1949, London/England, Purchased by the AGNSW from the British Council 1949. Purchased from the exhibition 'Eleven British Artists' Australian State Galleries 1949.
The Lefevre Gallery (England, estab. 1926, closed 2002), 1946, London/England
- Bibliography (13)
-
Ted Gott (Australia) (Author), Laurie Benson (Australia) (Author), Sophie Matthiesson (Australia) (Author), Modern Britain 1900-1960, Melbourne, 2007, 206 (colour illus.).
Margaret Olley (Australia, b.1923, d.2011) (Author), Jeffrey Smart (Italy; Australia, b.1921) (Author), Deborah Hart (South Africa; United Kingdom; Australia, b.1959) (Director), Christine France (Australia) (Co-ordinator), Favourites: Margaret Olley and Jeffrey Smart selections, Sydney, 2002. No catalogue numbers; titled 'Still life'; Jeffrey Smart selection.
Bruce James (Australia) (Author), Edmund Capon (England; Australia, b.1940) (Director), Art Gallery of New South Wales handbook, Domain, 1999, 63 (colour illus.).
Peter Tomory (United Kingdom) (Author), Anne Kirker (New Zealand; Australia, b.1947) (Author), British painting 1800-1990 in Australian and New Zealand public collections, Sydney, 1997, 139. cat.no. 1596
Ewen McDonald (Australia) (Editor), The Art Gallery of New South Wales collections, Sydney, 1994, 164 (colour illus.).
Annabel Davie (Editor), Art Gallery of New South Wales Handbook, Domain, 1988, 56.
Renée Free (Australia) (Author), Art Gallery of New South Wales catalogue of British paintings, Sydney, 1987, 138 (illus.).
Editor Unknown (Editor), Art Gallery of New South Wales picturebook, Domain, 1972, 56 (colour illus.).
Ben Nicholson (England, b.1894, d.1982) (Author), Ben Nicholson, London, 1955, (illus.). Vol. 1, plate no. 173
Emmanuel Bénézit (France) (Author), Dictionnaire critique et documentaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs et Graveurs de tous les temps et de tous les pays par un groupe d'écrivans spécialistes français et étrangers, 1953, 464 (illus.).
The British Council (England) (Organiser), Eleven British Artists, Australia 1949, England, 1949, (illus.). cat.no. 26, listed as 'Still Life (No. 6)'
The British Council (England) (Author), Modern British Paintings, Unknown, 1947. cat.no. 37
The Lefevre Gallery (England, estab. 1926, closed 2002) (Author), (Ben Nicholson), Unknown, 1946. cat.no. 70, listed as 'Still Life (6)'
- Exhibition history (13)
-
Modern British Paintings, British Institute, Athens, Oct 1947–Nov 1947.
Eleven British Artists, Australia 1949, Queensland Art Gallery, 1949–1949.
Eleven British Artists, Australia 1949, Art Gallery of Western Australia, 1949–1949.
Eleven British Artists, Australia 1949, National Gallery of South Australia, 1949–1949.
Eleven British Artists, Australia 1949, National Gallery of Victoria [Swanston Street], 1949–1949.
Eleven British Artists, Australia 1949, Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston, 1949–1949.
Eleven British Artists, Australia 1949, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, 1949–1949.
Eleven British Artists, Australia 1949, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 23 Jul 1949–21 Aug 1949.
Purchases and Acquisitions for 1949, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 17 Dec 1949–17 Feb 1950.
18 British Paintings from the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Newcastle Region Art Gallery, Jun 1965–Jul 1965.
Favourites: Margaret Olley and Jeffrey Smart (2002), S.H. Ervin Gallery, 12 Jan 2002–24 Feb 2002.
Modern Britain 1900-1960, NGV: International, 15 Nov 2007–24 Feb 2008.
(Ben Nicholson), The Lefevre Gallery, 1946?–1946?.
