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拍品專文
A neat thing in still-life’ was how William Nicholson described this ‘recently completed’ work in a letter to his dealer, William Marchant of the Goupil Gallery, in the summer of 1911. Stimulated by the success of his recent solo exhibition at the Goupil Gallery, Nicholson spent a productive summer in the Cotswolds staying in the congenial surroundings of Duntisbourne Manor. Despite having two portrait commissions in hand: Henry Lennox Hopkinson and his wife Marie (private collection), he still found ample time to choose his own subjects and one of his finest landscapes dates from this visit: The Devil’s Flight, Gloucestershire (Sheffield City Art Gallery).
Nicholson’s letter to William Marchant also included an annotated sketch of the present work (Tate Gallery Archives: TGA 8314/1/3/41). A lustre bowl stands in the centre on a black lacquer table against what the artist identifies as a ‘pretty dark’ background. In the foreground lies a blue shawl and a handful of ‘red and white flowers in shade’ in the left-hand corner. The head of a walking stick or cane appears in the foreground to the right, parallel with the lower edge of the painting.
Depicting different surfaces' textures was one of the challenges Nicholson always enjoyed. Silver lusterware pottery introduced in early 19th Century was easily mistaken for real silver in poorly lit homes, yet Nicholson was able to distinguish between the two materials through his depiction of the light reflecting off the softer moulding of the pottery surfaces. His previous painting of a lustre bowl - his first, executed in 1908, was presented to the publisher William Heinemann and the accompanying dedication suggests it was the result of a challenge to capture these same qualities: The Lustre Bowl (private collection).
Nicholson also noted in his letter that the unidentified flowers on the left are ‘in shade’. The lighting of the foreground is very subtle- a refection of the lustre bowl on the surface of the black lacquer table can be seen to the left suggesting that it is similar to the lighting in a closely associated work, The Lustre Bowl with Green Peas (Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art) painted that same summer. Here a lustre bowl with a copper lustre interior stands on a white tablecloth divided diagonally between light and shade – the green peas are lit, whereas in the present work the flowers are in shade. A stray flower petal to the right of the bowl recalls the tulip petal on the lacquer tray in The Lowestoft Bowl (Tate) also dated 1911. The textures of the blue woollen shawl, probably the one that appears in Mrs Hopkinson’s portrait, and of the lacquered cane are now eclipsed by the radiant bowl that seems almost to be suspended in space.
We very grateful to Patricia Reed for preparing this catalogue entry.
Nicholson’s letter to William Marchant also included an annotated sketch of the present work (Tate Gallery Archives: TGA 8314/1/3/41). A lustre bowl stands in the centre on a black lacquer table against what the artist identifies as a ‘pretty dark’ background. In the foreground lies a blue shawl and a handful of ‘red and white flowers in shade’ in the left-hand corner. The head of a walking stick or cane appears in the foreground to the right, parallel with the lower edge of the painting.
Depicting different surfaces' textures was one of the challenges Nicholson always enjoyed. Silver lusterware pottery introduced in early 19th Century was easily mistaken for real silver in poorly lit homes, yet Nicholson was able to distinguish between the two materials through his depiction of the light reflecting off the softer moulding of the pottery surfaces. His previous painting of a lustre bowl - his first, executed in 1908, was presented to the publisher William Heinemann and the accompanying dedication suggests it was the result of a challenge to capture these same qualities: The Lustre Bowl (private collection).
Nicholson also noted in his letter that the unidentified flowers on the left are ‘in shade’. The lighting of the foreground is very subtle- a refection of the lustre bowl on the surface of the black lacquer table can be seen to the left suggesting that it is similar to the lighting in a closely associated work, The Lustre Bowl with Green Peas (Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art) painted that same summer. Here a lustre bowl with a copper lustre interior stands on a white tablecloth divided diagonally between light and shade – the green peas are lit, whereas in the present work the flowers are in shade. A stray flower petal to the right of the bowl recalls the tulip petal on the lacquer tray in The Lowestoft Bowl (Tate) also dated 1911. The textures of the blue woollen shawl, probably the one that appears in Mrs Hopkinson’s portrait, and of the lacquered cane are now eclipsed by the radiant bowl that seems almost to be suspended in space.
We very grateful to Patricia Reed for preparing this catalogue entry.