Dimensions: support: 554 x 612 mm frame: 765 x 825 x 75 mm
Copyright: © Angela Verren Taunt 2014. All rights reserved, DACS | CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED, Photo: Tate
Editor: Here we have Ben Nicholson's "1924 (first abstract painting, Chelsea)". The juxtaposition of colors and shapes is striking. How do you see the materiality of this work informing its meaning? Curator: The visible process – the layering of paint, the raw edges – speaks to a dismantling of traditional notions of artistic skill. It highlights the labor involved, bringing the act of making to the forefront. What does this focus on process suggest to you about Nicholson's intentions? Editor: It makes me consider the construction of the image itself, rather than any representational meaning. It's about the materials and the making. Curator: Exactly. It’s a rejection of the illusion, focusing instead on the tangible reality of paint, canvas, and the artist's hand. This shift opens up a whole new way of considering art's purpose, doesn't it? Editor: It certainly challenges the conventional understanding of art, making me think about labor and materials.
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http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/nicholson-1924-first-abstract-painting-chelsea-t04861
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This is the first abstract Ben Nicholson painted and is one of only a few such works made by British artists in this period. Younger, avant-garde artists tended to concentrate on still life and landscape in the twenties using them as vehicles for formal experiment. Only three early abstract paintings by Nicholson are known and all of them display evidence of a sophiscated understanding of Cubism and its insistence on shallow space and overlapping planes. This painting was very advanced in the context of British art in this period, where the notion of abstraction was essentially equated with the distortion of natural appearance. Gallery label, August 2004
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