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拍品專文
A number of Nicholson's finest still lifes date from the period following his return to England in March 1920 after spending the winter in the South of France with his new wife Edie, also an artist who exhibited in the 1920s and '30s under the name Elizabeth Drury.
Here Nicholson employs an almost square format, which is unusual for him, and the rich, dark background of his pre-war still lifes makes a return. The scarlet, purple, pink and white anemones in a simple white mug with painted decoration are standing on a thin white cloth, partially covering a plain wooden table. Silver and ivory cutlery, familiar from other still lifes, catches the light - as does the moulded base of the mug. (This creates a line of reflections roughly parallel with the edge of the tablecloth.) In the foreground left, the corner of a green plate (a majolica leaf plate - probably Minton) anchors a composition in which the tilted picture plane has replaced the shallow picture space previously found in Nicholson's still lifes. This was to become a distinctive feature of his work in the 1920s. There is an amplitude and confidence about the painting which dates from a very happy period in his life.
The first recorded owner, the American playwright and connoisseur, Edward Knoblock (1874-1945), and the author of Kismet, had been a friend and patron since before the war. He may have acquired the work directly from the artist as it does not appear to have been exhibited before it is recorded in his collection. In 1920 Nicholson's glass panel paintings made for Knoblock's Paris apartment (1913-1914) had been installed at his new home Beach House, Worthing (paintings now in the care of the National Trust), and they were featured in Country Life (29 January 1921) in a well-illustrated article. In his autobiography Round the Room, 1939 (p. 140) Knoblock, referring to his friend Nicholson, declared 'There is no better painter in England'.
This work has not been seen in public since 1951.
P.R.
Here Nicholson employs an almost square format, which is unusual for him, and the rich, dark background of his pre-war still lifes makes a return. The scarlet, purple, pink and white anemones in a simple white mug with painted decoration are standing on a thin white cloth, partially covering a plain wooden table. Silver and ivory cutlery, familiar from other still lifes, catches the light - as does the moulded base of the mug. (This creates a line of reflections roughly parallel with the edge of the tablecloth.) In the foreground left, the corner of a green plate (a majolica leaf plate - probably Minton) anchors a composition in which the tilted picture plane has replaced the shallow picture space previously found in Nicholson's still lifes. This was to become a distinctive feature of his work in the 1920s. There is an amplitude and confidence about the painting which dates from a very happy period in his life.
The first recorded owner, the American playwright and connoisseur, Edward Knoblock (1874-1945), and the author of Kismet, had been a friend and patron since before the war. He may have acquired the work directly from the artist as it does not appear to have been exhibited before it is recorded in his collection. In 1920 Nicholson's glass panel paintings made for Knoblock's Paris apartment (1913-1914) had been installed at his new home Beach House, Worthing (paintings now in the care of the National Trust), and they were featured in Country Life (29 January 1921) in a well-illustrated article. In his autobiography Round the Room, 1939 (p. 140) Knoblock, referring to his friend Nicholson, declared 'There is no better painter in England'.
This work has not been seen in public since 1951.
P.R.