1933 (guitar) (1933)

Ben Nicholson

oil on board

Tate, London, Liverpool and St Ives

Classification:

Painting

Materials:

Oil, Board

Physical Object Description:

Image of a guitar. Inscribed: ‘Ben Nicholson 1933’ on back-board.

Dimensions:

83.2 x 19.7 cm

Accession Number:

N05125

Credit:

Presented by the Contemporary Art Society, 1940

Scheme:

Historic Purchase by Purchaser (1914-2008)

Ownership history:

Purchased by St John Hutchinson (1884-1942) for the Contemporary Art Society, 1934; presented to the Tate Gallery, 1940

Relationship:

St John 'Jack' Hutchinson Tate, London, Liverpool and St Ives

Subject:

Still Life

By using an oddly shaped piece of wooden board rather than canvas, Ben Nicholson created a work that lies somewhere between sculpture and painting. The effect is heightened by the texture of the surface, which was prepared with a layer of special plaster that the artist cut into while it was still wet. Though now framed, Nicholson preferred to leave the work unprotected. Photographs show that instead of hanging it on a wall like a conventional painting, he kept his 'scratched surrealist guitar' propped on a mantelpiece in his studio. Nicholson produced three other paintings of guitars which were executed in 1933; two were owned by H. E. ' Jim' Ede (1895-1990) of Kettle's Yard who donated his home and contents to the University of Cambridge in 1966 and the other at Leeds.

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