Galerie Beyeler, Basel
Mr. and Mrs. James Clark, Dallas
Iwan Herstatt, Cologne
Acquired from the above on January 28, 1970

Ben Nicholson made his first white relief in February 1934, and continued to produce these enigmatic and serene compositions well into 1939. This particular work displays the clean forms and textures of his best work from this period, which are characterised by a particular lightness and spatial harmony. The simplicity and🅰 sparseness of these compositions create a Zen-like calm, which hints at the transcendental, mystic element that underpinned Nicholson’s abstract art.

Whilst Nicholson acknowledged the Russian Suprematist Malevich as a “considerable force” behind the development of his art during this period, and many critics have sought to place the white reliefs in the context of the Constructivist movement, in many ways Nicholson remained a man apart from the progressive art movements of his day.  His art was based less on contemporary theory than an intuitive sense of ascetic harmony and the mystical connotations of shapes and forms. As he commented in the book accompanying his 1934 exhibition Unit One, “Painting and religious experience are the same thing, and what we are all searching for is the understanding and realisation of infinity – an idea which is complete, with no beginning, no end and therefore giving of all things for all time…Painting and carving is one means of searching after this reality” (quoted in Maurice de Sausmarez, Ed., Ben Nicholson, London, 1969, p. 32). It is this desire to render the intangible quality of the infinite that imparts 🍰a potent sense of ℱmystery to this austere geometrical design.