Ben Nicholson (1894-1982) Untitled drypoint etching signed Ben Nicholson in the margin inscribed 2nd Proof image 20 x 15cm, unframed. Provenance:A gift from the artist Ben Nicholson was born in Denham, Buckinghamshire. His father was the painter Sir William Nicholson. He attended the Slade School of Art in 1910-11. In 1922 he had his first solo exhibition at the Adelphi Gallery, London and... More

Ben Nicholson (1894-1982) Untitled drypoint etching signed Ben Nicholson in the margin inscribed 2nd Proof image 20 x 15cm, unframed. Provenance:A gift from the artist Ben Nicholson was born in Denham, Buckinghamshire. His father was the painter Sir William Nicholson. He attended the Slade School of Art in 1910-11. In 1922 he had his first solo exhibition at the Adelphi Gallery, London and soon after painted abstract paintings influenced by Cubism and by 1927, inspired by Rousseau and early Folk Art, he had evolved a primitive style. He met Mondrian and Picasso who both had influences on his work. In 1939 Nicholson moved to St Ives with his wife Barbara Hepworth, the sculptor. They initially stayed with Adrian Stokes in Carbis Bay. Nicholson entered a period of painting landscapes and coloured abstract reliefs, and then linear abstract painting. He joined the St Ives Society in 1943 and in 1949 was a founder member of The Penwith Society. In 1951 Nicholson and Hepworth divorced and he left Cornwall in 1957.