Ben Nicholson O.M. (British 1894-1982) §
View from Bankshead Looking East, 1920s
£2,125
Auction: 29 April 2022 from 10:00 BST
Description
pencil on paper
Dimensions
35cm x 50.2cm (13.75in x 19.75in)
Provenance
Provenance:
Acquired from the artist by Jake Nicholson and thence by descent to the present owner.
Footnote
Ben and Winifred Nicholson purchased Bankshead in Cumbria in 1923 and moved in the following year. Winifred described it as ‘a grey farmstead, a little house built out of the Roman Wall stones, a byre and a barn, on the line of the Roman Wall overlooking the great valley of the Irthing river and over towards the blue-grey fells. It was to be sold with a few fields falling down to the river. It welcomed us and we bought it at once.’ (as quoted in Judith Collins, ‘Introduction’, A Painters’ Place: Banks Head, Cumberland 1924-31, Abbot Hall Art Gallery with Redcliffe Press Bristol, 1991, p. 5).
Jake Nicholson believed one of the reasons his parents were drawn to Bankshead was the view, which ‘was constantly changing. One day, just before rain, the fells look so close you can almost touch them. Another time they will disappear in the mist so that you wouldn’t know they were there at all... Each window of the house was like a picture frame holding the view beyond.’ (Jake Nicholson, ‘What Does an Artist Look for in a Painting Place?’, A Painters’ Place, op.cit., p. 10).
Winifred and Ben had studios at opposite ends of the house; hers looked west across the farmyard, whilst Ben’s looked east. It is this view, looking towards Northumberland, which can be seen in this delicate drawing. Bankshead was to remain Winifred’s base for the rest of her life.