'Feb 2-54', Ben Nicholson OM

Artwork details

Artist

Ben Nicholson OM (1894‑1982)

Title

Feb 2-54

Date 1954

MediumOil paint and graphite on canvas

Dimensionssupport: 733 x 803 mm frame: 790 x 860 x 59 mm

Collection

Tate

Acquisition Bequeathed by Miss E.M. Hodgkins 1977

Reference

T02221

Not on display

Display caption

This painting is typical of Nicholson's still lifes of the early fifties with its overlapping forms, often transparent, but given body by accents of colour or pencil shading. The construction of these paintings is a development from his works of the mid-thirties in which Nicholson allowed the forms of earlier paintings to penetrate later reworkings. The surface has been rubbed down repeatedly and, in common with many other such works of the period, is smooth. The colour is applied both relatively freely in thin washes and precisely and opaquely. Nicholson received the Ulisse Award at the Venice Biennale later in 1954.

August 2004