Ben Nicholson | Angela Verren Taunt

White Relief (second version)

Artist's Resale Right

Live auction begins on:

June 7, 01:00 PM GMT

Estimate

25,000 - 35,000 GBP

Bid

18,000 GBP

Lot Details

Description

Property from the Collection of Angela Verren Taunt

Ben Nicholson and Angela Verren Taunt

1894 - 1982; 1930 - 2023

White Relief (second version)

signed Ben, titled, dated 75 and inscribed lent to A + when i pop off - for angela / (who helped make it) (on the reverse of the backboard)

oil on carved relief, laid on Artist's backboard

unframed (central board): 10 by 20cm; 4 by 8in.

unframed (backboard): 19 by 30cm.; 7½ by 12in.

framed: 21 by 31.5cm.; 8¼ by 12½in.

Executed in 1975.

We are grateful to Rachel Smith for her kind assistance with the cataloguing of the present work.

The present work will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné of Ben Nicholson’s paintings and reliefs, which is currently being prepared. The authors encourage any other owners to be in touch. Please write to Rachel Smith, c/o Sotheby’s Modern & Postwar British Art, Sotheby’s, 34-35 New Bond Street, London, W1A 2AA or email info@bncr.org.uk.

Gifted by Ben Nicholson to Angela Verren Taunt

Ben Nicholson met Angela Verren Taunt at a Christmas party in Cambridge on 29 December 1971. Angela was a talented painter herself and had been a great admirer of Nicholson’s work. Ben invited Angela to visit his studio soon after they met, and it was clear there was an immediate connection. She shortly became his studio assistant, and the close friendship which developed between the two was of fundamental importance to the last ten years of Nicholson’s life. They also worked as collaborators on occasion. The support and creative exchange Ben received from Angela was an energizing element, which along with a return to the UK, helped him recapture a creative energy and zest for life and encouraged his artistic output during this final decade.