
Not on display
- Artist
- Ben Nicholson OM 1894–1982
- Medium
- Oil paint on board
- Dimensions
- Object: 1219 × 1829 mm
frame: 1288 × 1899 × 85 mm - Collection
- Tate
- Acquisition
- Purchased 1962
- Reference
- T00557
Display caption
In this work Nicholson suggests depth and overlapping planes in a more complex way than in his pre-war abstract reliefs, carving into the hardboard and working colour into the surface during the carving process, to give a subtle differentiation of tone and texture. In 1958 Nicholson moved from Cornwall to the Ticino in Switzerland and his work expanded in scale and showed a greater freedom of colour and texture, perhaps in response to the grandeur of the landscape which he described as 'entirely magical with the kind of visual poetry I would like to find in my paintings.'
Gallery label, August 2004
Does this text contain inaccurate information or language that you feel we should improve or change? We would like to hear from you.
Catalogue entry
T00557 FEB. 1960 (ICE-OFF-BLUE) 1960
Inscr. on back, ‘Ben Nicholson Feb 1960 (off-ice-blue)’.
Oil on masonite, carved in relief, 48×72 (122×183).
Purchased from Gimpel Fils (Grant-in-Aid) 1962.
Coll: Gimpel Fils; André Emmerich Gallery, New York; Gimpel Fils.
Exh: Gimpel Fils, July 1960 (21, repr. in colour on cover); André Emmerich Gallery, New York, April–May 1961 (1, repr. in colour); International Exhibition, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, October 1961–January 1962 (290, repr.).
Repr: Metro, No.1, December 1960, pp.32–3.
The change in the title was made by the artist (letter of 23 January 1963).
In this work a suggestion of overlapping planes is achieved by much subtler differentiations of depth than in the artist's earlier reliefs such as ‘white relief 1935’ (T00049); this is also helped by variations in colour and texture. The artist developed this new idea of the painted relief in the late 1950s.
Published in:
Mary Chamot, Dennis Farr and Martin Butlin, The Modern British Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture, London 1964, II
You might like
-
Ben Nicholson OM Feb 28-53 (vertical seconds)
1953 -
Ben Nicholson OM August 1956 (Val d’Orcia)
1956 -
Ben Nicholson OM 1967 (Tuscan relief)
1967 -
Ben Nicholson OM July 62 (cool moon)
1962 -
Ben Nicholson OM Oct 62 (3 circles)
1962 -
Ben Nicholson OM 1967 (nest of circles)
1967 -
Ben Nicholson OM March 63 (artemission)
1963 -
Ben Nicholson OM 1969 (Carnac No. 1)
1969 -
Ben Nicholson OM Feb 55
1955 -
Ben Nicholson OM Feb 2-54
1954 -
Ben Nicholson OM Dec 10-54
1954 -
Ben Nicholson OM 62-75 (wall project)
1962–75 -
Ben Nicholson OM 66 (vertical wall)
1966 -
Ben Nicholson OM 1939-44 (painted relief)
1939–44 -
Ben Nicholson OM Festival of Britain Mural
1951