
Penny Day
Head of UK and Ireland
Sold for £128,500 inc. premium
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Provenance
C.S. Reddihough
This present lot belongs to a series of works related to Painted Relief 1943 (see p.107 in Herbert Read, Ben Nicholson, Paintings, Reliefs, Drawings, Volume 1, Lund Humphries, London, 1948). As was Nicholson's habit in the early and mid-1940s compositions were executed on a number of scales and across his adopted mediums. At times Nicholson adhered rigidly to the placement of forms and the selection of tones. In other instances variations are discernable across a series. The current gouache composition and palette must have been deemed rather successful by the artist as it is known to be followed by both a mid-scale oil on canvas and larger carved relief. A variation with the same central composition, but flanked by an area of earthy green to the left and steely grey to the right, has been published as a lithograph by Paupers Press. Entitled 1945 (design for an act drop) which perhaps suggests an intended theatrical use.