Ben Nicholson OM

Sept 8-54 (Torcello)

1954

© Angela Verren Taunt 2021. All rights reserved, DACS

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On loan

Pallant House Gallery (Chichester, UK): Ben Nicholson: From the Studio

Artist: Ben Nicholson OM 1894–1982
Medium: Oil paint and graphite on canvas
Dimensions: Frame: 1036 × 639 × 63 mm
support: 978 × 581 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Bequeathed by Miss E.M. Hodgkins 1977
Reference: T02222

Display caption

Nicholson spent June 1954 in Venice. Here he had a much-admired display of his work in that year's Biennale. This picture is apparently a memory of Torcello, the small island across the Lagoon from Venice famous for its Byzantine mosaics in the Cathedral. However, it is also well known for its fine restaurants, and Nicholson's picture appears to show some goblets and a caraffe on a table top. Still life occupied him throughout his career, just as it had his father. 'Torcello' was painted in St Ives after Nicholson's return from Italy.

Gallery label, August 2004

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Catalogue entry

T02222 SEPT 8–54 (TORCELLO) 1954

Inscribed on top turnover of canvas ‘Ben Nicholson/Sept 8–54/(Torcello)’
Oil and pencil on canvas, 28 3/8 × 31 5/8 (73.2 × 80.3)
Bequeathed by Miss E. M. Hodgkins 1977
Exh: Ben Nicholson, Lefevre Gallery, September–October 1954 (48)
Repr: John Russell (introd.), Ben Nicholson drawings paintings and reliefs 1911–1968, 1969, No.79, as ‘September 8 1954 (Torcello)’

Painted in St Ives.

Published in:
The Tate Gallery 1976-8: Illustrated Catalogue of Acquisitions, London 1979