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Ben Nicholson Om, a renowned British painter, was born on April 10, 1894, in Denham, Buckinghamshire. He is celebrated for his abstract compositions, landscapes, and still-life paintings. As the son of painters Sir William Nicholson and Mabel Pryde, art was an integral part of his life from an early age.
Early Life and Training
Nicholson's family moved to London in 1896, where he was educated at Tyttenhangar Lodge Preparatory School, Seaford, at Heddon Court, Hampstead, and then as a boarder at Gresham's School, Holt, Norfolk. He trained as an artist in London at the Slade School of Fine Art between 1910 and 1911, where he was a contemporary of Paul Nash, Stanley Spencer, Mark Gertler, and Edward Wadsworth. According to Nash, Nicholson spent more time during his year at the Slade playing billiards than painting or drawing, since the abstract formality of the green baize and the constantly changing relationships of the balls were, he later claimed, of more appeal to his aesthetic sense.
Marriages and Children
Nicholson was married three times. His first marriage was to the painter Winifred Roberts; it took place on November 5, 1920, at St Martin-in-the-Fields Church, London. Nicholson and Winifred had three children: a son, Jake, in June 1927; a daughter, Kate (who later also became a painter), in July 1929; and a son, Andrew, in September 1931. They were divorced in 1938. His second marriage was to fellow artist Barbara Hepworth on November 17, 1938, at Hampstead Register Office. Nicholson and Hepworth had triplets, two daughters, Sarah and Rachel, and a son, Simon, in 1934. They were divorced in 1951. The third and final marriage was to Felicitas Vogler, a German photographer.
Artistic Career
Nicholson's first notable work was following a meeting with the playwright J.M. Barrie on holiday in Rustington, Sussex, in 1904. As a result of this meeting, Barrie used a drawing by Nicholson as the base for a poster for the play Peter Pan; his father William designed some of the sets and costumes. Nicholson was exempted from World War I military service due to asthma. He traveled to New York in 1917 for an operation on his tonsils, then visited other American cities, returning to Britain in 1918.
Nicholson's work began to be influenced by Synthetic Cubism and later by the primitive style of Rousseau. In 1926, he became chair of the Seven and Five Society. He met Mondrian, whose work in the neoplastic style was to influence him in an abstract direction, and Picasso, whose cubism would also find its way into his work. Nicholson believed that abstract art should be enjoyed by the general public, as shown by the Nicholson Wall, a mural he created for the garden of Sutton Place in Guildford, Surrey.
- Some of Nicholson's works can be seen at the Tate Gallery, Tate St Ives, Kettle's Yard Art Gallery in Cambridge, The Hepworth Wakefield, and the Pier Arts Centre in Stromness, Orkney.
- An auction record for this artist of $1,650,500 was set at Christie's, New York, for Sept 53 (Balearic), an oil and pencil on canvas, on November 1, 2011.
- His painting Fiddle and Spanish Guitar, in oil and gravel on masonite, was sold for €3,313,000 by Christie's in Paris on September 27, 2012.
For more information about Ben Nicholson Om, visit https://WahooArt.com/@/Ben-Nicholson-Om or https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Nicholson. You can also explore his artworks at https://WahooArt.com/Art.nsf/O/A@D3BPR5 and https://WahooArt.com/Art.nsf/O/93PVDX. |
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