Ben Nicholson established an international reputation in the late 1930s with his abstract reliefs, carved out of wood and painted a uniform white. In 1939 he and his wife, Barbara Hepworth moved to St Ives in Cornwall and soon became the leading figures in the artists' colony there.
Head is a portrait of the sculptor Barbara Hepworth, where her features are reduced to a few simple lines.The single profile head was one of the most important of all Nicholson’s linocuts, of which he pulled at least fourteen impressions.
In the early 1930s Ben Nicholson’s interest in printmaking was generally of an informal and experimental nature. Abstract design 1934 was his only woodcut, and his first print to be editioned. It shows Nicholson engaging with a new abstract language, which anticipates the tight geometry of the reliefs of the mid-1930s.
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Image credits from top to bottom
1. Head, Ben Nicholson, 1933 ©️ Angela Verran Taunt. All rights reserved, DACS, 2023
2. Abstract Design, Ben Nicholson, 1943 ©️ Angela Verran Taunt. All rights reserved, DACS, 2023
3. Postcards, Ben Nicholson, 1943 ©️ Angela Verran Taunt. Courtesy of Kettle's Yard. All rights reserved, DACS, 2023