This afternoon I had the pleasure of taking one of the artist’s friends around the exhibition ‘Ben Nicholson: From the Studio’. It was great to get her insights and to see her evident pleasure at seeing old friends again. “Far-sinating” she declared in a voice we rarely hear today. Apparently Ben Nicholson listened to ‘amorphous music’ when he was in the studio. It was also provided an opportunity to get away from meetings and emails to have a proper look at works such as ‘1932 (Boque)’ kindly loaned by @artscouncilcollection . This is often read in terms of the influence of Cubism and Nicholson’s appreciation of Georges Braque. The ACC catalogue says that this table-top still life is painted on board, but in fact it’s on canvas nailed into board, giving it a hard object-quality with a surface effect achieved by scraping the paint back. I think the word is actually ‘Bocquet’ the brand name of a mustard made in Yvetot, Normandy (the T covered by a cup). At that time Nicholson was making trips to France and he was apparently inspired by seeing shop signs in Dieppe. #bennicholson #bennicholsonfromthestudioexhibition #pallanthousegallery #modernbritish (at Pallant House Gallery) https://www.instagram.com/p/CSFKcpboJMk/?utm_medium=tumblr
