Ben Nicholson O.M.

(British, 1894-1982)

George and Rufus 38.5 x 49.5 cm. (15 1/4 x 19 1/2 in.) (including the artists prepared backboard)

Footnotes

Provenance
C.S. Reddihough

In the late 1930s Ben Nicholson produced a series of works which were derived from drawings he had made for his own children. The artist's son Jake recalled that 'Dogs were called Booboo or Ponto, and horses seemed to be George, or if they were roan coloured, Rufus, and they tended to be skittish. There was also a stag called Johnny and even a crocodile called Billy'. The paintings were intended for an illustrated children's book titled 'George and Rufus' but the publishers Routledge changed their mind and it was never completed. The designs were however put to use by Alistair Morton, founder of Edinburgh Weavers, and became a repeated pattern for a nursery fabric.

On the surface the present example exhibits all the charming naivety that Nicholson so admired in the work of Alfred Wallis. On closer inspection however it is clear that here is a cleverly thought out, informed work that successfully combines the artist's three central preoccupations – landscape, still life and abstraction. The rolling Cumbrian hills in the background contrast with a planar display of fruit and crockery on the table. The spatial arrangement of the flattened objects and shadows revealing Ben's admiration for Cubism and the likes of Braque. He went on to develop this obsession of placing still life in landscape throughout his career. And finally, through a partially open door the viewer catches a glimpse of an abstract painting hanging on the wall, a nod to the carved white reliefs he had created in the years immediately prior.

But perhaps one of the most engaging aspects of this painting is the personal touch of the note simply inscribed 'Kate'. Kate is his daughter from his first marriage to fellow painter Winifred Nicholson and in the year the present work was painted, 1937, Ben and Winifred were embroiled in difficult divorce proceedings so it is easy to imagine how Kate and her happiness and welfare would have been on his mind.