▲ Ben Nicholson OM (British, 1894-1982) 'Ronco', 1979

signed, inscribed and dated 'Ronco 1979 Nicholson' verso, printed photographic paper laid on board, with ink, felt tip, pen and ink; further laid on artist's board, laid on artist's board, external board 55 x 49cm; framed 70 x 64.5cm, The Nicholson Estate; thence to Angela Verren Taunt. The present work is recorded in the Waddington's Archive. Ben Nicholson created this work in 1979, when he was living and working in Hampstead, but the title is a reference to Ronco sopra Ascona, a small hilltop village in the district of Ticino, Switzerland. In 1958, Nicholson moved to Switzerland from Cornwall, where he had lived for the preceding two decades, with his third wife, the photographer Felicitas Vogler. The move came on the back of his considerable international success, having won the Carnegie International prize in 1952, exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 1954, and won the Guggenheim International painting prize in 1957. It led to a particularly productive period in Nicholson’s work and a time of creative reinvigoration. He increasingly focused on large-scale carved reliefs, made possible in part due to the space found in his new studio, and inspired by the rugged scenery. The couple built a house just outside Brissago, with views overlooking Lago Maggiore, and of the landscape, Nicholson wrote: ‘The landscape is superb, especially in winter and when seen from the changing levels of the mountainside. The persistent sunlight, the bare trees seen against a translucent lake, the hard, rounded forms of the snow-topped mountains, and perhaps with a late evening moon rising beyond in a pale, cerulean sky is entirely magical, with the kind of poetry which I would like to find in my painting’. (Ben Nicholson, 1959, quoted in Norbert Lynton, 'Ben Nicholson', Phaidon Press, London, 1993, p. 311). The present work was previously in the collection of Angela Verren Taunt, whom Nicholson had met in Cambridge in 1971, at a Christmas party following his return to England. Angela was a talented painter in her own right and the two soon became fast friends, with Angela taking on the role of his studio assistant and helping to plan his sketching trips both in the UK and abroad. The creative exchange between the two was of fundamental importance to Nicholson in the final years of his life. ‘The landscape is superb, especially in winter and when seen from the changing levels of the mountainside. The persistent sunlight, the bare trees seen against a translucent lake, the hard, rounded forms of the snow-topped mountains, and perhaps with a late evening moon rising beyond in a pale, cerulean sky is entirely magical, with the kind of poetry which I would like to find in my painting’. Condition Report, Condition Report, On close inspection, there are hand-coloured elements, with pencil and ballpoint pen additions. The black area appears photographic or has been applied with a roller, similar to the lino printing process. The edges are worked, leaving evidence of the artist's fingerprints. The larger board has some tiny losses to the extreme edges and marks to the upper edge. The corners are little worn. The work is well presented, ready to hang. It has not been examined out of the glazed frame. The larger board has some tiny losses to the extreme edges and marks to the upper edge. The corners are little worn. The work is well presented, ready to hang. It has not been examined out of the glazed frame. Request A Condition Report, Request A Condition Report

Estimate:£15,000

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