BERNARD JACOBSON GRAPHICS
BEN NICHOLSON: LYRIC AND LINE LATE ETCHINGS
05 Sep – 12 Oct 2013
Front page: Ben Nicholson crystal 1967 Etching, Edition of 50 32 x 37.5 cms (12 5/8 x 14 3/4 ins) BN14320 £4,500 (incl. VAT, excl. ARR)
‘Ben Nicholson: Lyric and Line’ Late Etchings Bernard Jacobson Graphics is pleased to announce an exhibiIon of limited ediIon prints by the print-‐maker and major BriIsh arIst Ben Nicholson. Following an acclaimed exhibiIon of Nicholson’s original works at the gallery last year, Bernard Jacobson Graphics conInues with a comprehensive show of Ben Nicholson’s late etchings. Nicholson’s printmaking career started in the 1920’s with trials on lino-‐ and woodcuts. AXer moving to St. Ives he began work on a series of seven drypoints. It was only when Nicholson was in his late sixIes that he started to work extensively with etchings, which were printed in ediIon size. However, the influence of printmaking techniques always played a crucial role in his work. The processes involved in relief prinIng, as used in woodcuts and linocuts, may have led him to work with relief carving in his original works. Similarly the etchings of the 1960’s may have influenced his later drawings, whereby we see a clarity of line and a reducIon of tone. Nicholson stated: “The bite of the steel point into the metal is a terrific experience when all goes right & the necessity I am finding to reduce the idea to a series of lines is interesIng.” Nicholson only started to work with etching at the age of sixty-‐nine. He moved to a remote lakeside house in Switzerland with his third wife, where he met the young arIst Francois Lafranca, who offered to print Nicholson’s etchings. This collaboraIon proved successful for the next three years. The four porbolios printed by Lafranca in these three years demonstrate some of the most important subject macer of Nicholson’s arIsIc life. While the first three porbolios show a compendium of architectural forms and Mediterranean places that Nicholson had visited with his wife, whose photographs were certainly a major inspiraIon, the last porbolio comprises the favourite themes of his graphic work: Crystalline forms, the interplay of line, objects in his studio and memories of Mediterranean architecture. This porbolio is a central focus of the exhibiIon. Nicholson kept arIst’s proofs from all sets of prints, which he liked to hand-‐colour; oXen only small parts of the architectural forms are highlighted with an earthly red. Two of these rare hand-‐coloured prints feature in the exhibiIon. As Nicholson said in 1948, he was seeking ‘the musical and architectural’. Furthermore, Nicholson stated, ‘whether things are representaIonal or non-‐representaIonal, slightly more or less abstract, is for me beside the point.” ‘Ben Nicholson: Lyric and Line’ exhibits a comprehensive overview of Nicholson’s etching output.
Ben Nicholson Movement 1966 Etching, Edition of 50 33 x 32 cms (13 x 12 9/16 ins) BNE015 ÂŁ3,800 (incl. VAT and frame, excl. ARR)
Ben Nicholson Olympic fragment No.1 1965 Etching, Edition of 50 32 x 37.5 cms (12 5/8 x 14 3/4 ins) BN14305 ÂŁ4,300 (incl. VAT and frame, excl. ARR)
Ben Nicholson Verona (the Duomo) 1966 Etching, Trial Proof 38 x 27.5 cms (15 x 10 7/8 ins) BNE019 ÂŁ 2,700 (incl.VAT and frame, excl. ARR)
Ben Nicholson Torcello I 1967 Etching, Edition of 50 46 x 56 cms (18 1/8 x 22 ins) BN14322 ÂŁ 4,500 (incl. VAT and frame, excl. ARR)
Ben Nicholson Lucca (small version) 1967 Etching, Edition of 50 32 x 37.5 cms (12 5/8 x 14 3/4 ins) BN14319 ÂŁ4,300 (incl. VAT and frame, excl. ARR)
Ben Nicholson Paros tree 1967 Etching, Edition of 50 38 x 56 cms (15 x 22 ins) BN14307 £ 4,500 (incl. VAT and frame, excl. ARR)
Ben Nicholson Turkish sundial & tree 1967 Etching. Edition of 50 43.5 x 38 cms (17.12 x 14.96 in.) BNE003 ÂŁ3,800 (incl. VAT and frame, excl. ARR)
Ben Nicholson tree, column & moon 1967 Etching, Edition of 50 56 x 50 cms (22 x 19 11/16 ins) BN14304 ÂŁ4,300 (incl. VAT and frame, excl. ARR)
Ben Nicholson flowing forms 1967 Etching, Edition of 50 38 x 44 cms (15 x 17 1/3 ins) BN14321 ÂŁ 4,200 (incl. VAT and frame, excl. ARR)
Ben Nicholson still life with curves 1966 Etching, Edition of 50 42.9 x 37.8 cms (16 7/8 x 14 7/8 ins) BNE013 ÂŁ4,200 (incl. VAT and frame, excl. ARR)
Ben Nicholson crystal 1967 Etching, Edition of 50 32 x 37.5 cms (12.6 x 14.76 in.) BN14320 ÂŁ 4,500 (incl. VAT and frame, excl. ARR)
Ben Nicholson complicated forms 1967 Etching and drypoint, Edition of 50 36.5 x 22 cms (14.37 x 8.66 ins) BN14290 ÂŁ3,800 (incl. VAT and frame, excl. ARR)
Ben Nicholson two goblets & a mug 1967 Etching, Edition of 50 38 x 47.5 cms (15 x 18 3/4 ins) BN14306 ÂŁ4,500 (incl. VAT and frame, excl. ARR)
Ben Nicholson single form 1967 Etching, Edition of 50 42.6 x 52.3 cms (16 3/4 x 20 9/16 ins) BN14308 ÂŁ4,500 (incl. VAT and frame, excl. ARR)
Ben Nicholson half mug, half jug 1967 Etching, Edition of 50 38 x 32 cms (15 x 12 5/8 ins) BN14325 ÂŁ4,500 (incl. VAT and frame, excl. ARR)
Ben Nicholson two & a half goblets 1967 Etching, Edition of 50 38 x 32 cms (15 x 12 5/8 ins) BN14316 ÂŁ4,200 (incl. VAT and frame, excl. ARR)
Ben Nicholson glasstopped bottle 1967/8 Etching, Edition of 50 50 x 38 cms (19 11/16 x 15 ins) BN14324 ÂŁ4,200 (incl. VAT and frame, excl. ARR)
Ben Nicholson curled Turkish form 1966 Etching, Edition of 50 38 x 27.5 cms (15 x 10 3/4 ins) BN14295 ÂŁ3,750 (incl.VAT and frame, excl. ARR)
Ben Nicholson Turkish sundial between two Turkish forms II 1967 Etching, not numbered, not signed 48 x 43.1 cms (18 3/4 x 17 in.) BN14288 ÂŁ 2,950 (incl.VAT and frame, excl. ARR)
Ben Nicholson Turkish sundial between two Turkish forms 1967 Etching, Edition of 50 37.7 x 52 cms (15 x 20 1/2 ins) BN14317 ÂŁ 4,200 (incl. VAT and frame, excl. ARR)
Ben Nicholson long horizontal Patmos 1967 Etching, Edition of 50 34 x 48 cms (13 3/8 x 18 7/8 ins) BN14287 ÂŁ4,450 (incl. VAT and frame, excl. ARR)
Ben Nicholson fragment of Tuscan cathedral 1965 Etching, Edition of 50 32 x 27.5 cms (12 5/8 x 10 13/16 ins) BN14327 ÂŁ 4,200 (incl. VAT and frame, excl. ARR)
Ben Nicholson storm over Paros 1967 Etching, Edition of 50 38 x 43 cms (15 x 16 15/16 ins) BNE020 ÂŁ 4,800 (incl.VAT and frame, excl. ARR)
Ben Nicholson fragment of Tuscan cathedral Etching with hand-colouring 1966 Edition of 50 32.3 x 27.5 cms (12 3/4 x 10 7/8 ins) BN14286 ÂŁ 5,500 (incl. VAT and frame, excl. ARR)
Ben Nicholson Aquileia 1966 Etching with hand-colouring, Edition of 50 34.5 x 30 cms (13 9/16 x 11 13/16 ins) BN14289 ÂŁ17,000 (incl.VAT and frame, excl. ARR)
Ben Nicholson long horizontal Patmos 1967 Etching with hand-colouring 34 x 48 cms ( 13.38 x 18.89 in.) BN13957 ÂŁ 7,500 (incl. VAT and frame, excl. ARR)
For more information please contact: Constance Aehlig constance@jacobsongallery.com 020 77 34 34 31