Room guide
Introduction
Ben Nicholson (1894-1982) is best known as a leading figure of the Modern Movement in Britain in the 1930s. His abstract paintings and reliefs secured his reputation alongside such international collaborators as Dutch painter Piet Mondrian and Russian sculptor Naum Gabo.
A Continuous Line looks at Nicholson's work from the beginning of his mature career in the early 1920s to 1958 when the artist left Britain for Switzerland. In contrast to previous exhibitions, it pays special attention to his non-abstract work of the 1920s, 1940s and 1950s, speculating on differing ideas of the modern in painting.
In the wake of the first world war and during the second world war, Nicholson's art proposed a new way of thinking about the world, including a re-engagement with nature and tradition. This can be seen in his landscapes of this time and in his gently worked surface textures, which might be seen as modern in more subtle ways than his more obviously radical abstracts.
This is the first major presentation of Nicholson's work in the UK for over 14 years. The project has been organised by Tate St Ives in collaboration with Abbot Hall Art Gallery in Kendal and De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill. With each venue connecting with an aspect of his life and work, the exhibition completes its 10 month national tour in St Ives, a place seminal to Nicholson's art and his home for 19 years.