Oil paint on board
Tate St Ives
Tate Collection
Works with images
Works on display
General Collection
Contemporary Art Society
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/ben-nicholson-om-1702" aria-label="More by Ben Nicholson OM" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Ben Nicholson OM</a>
1933 guitar
Presented by the Contemporary Art Society 1940
abstraction
emotions, concepts and ideas
fine arts and music
formal qualities
from recognisable sources
hill
instrument, guitar
jug
landscape
landscape
man-made
objects
texture
vessels and containers
<p>By using an oddly shaped piece of wooden board rather than canvas, 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.</p><p><em>Gallery label, August 2004</em></p>
painting oil paint board
25 April 2002 – 7 July 2002
2002-07-07
25 April 2002 – 7 July 2002
2002-07-07
2002-04-25
IVAM, Institut Valencià d’Art Modern (Valencia, Spain)
2002-04-25
Ben Nicholson
Loan-out
7 February 2004 – 25 July 2004
2004-07-25
7 February 2004 – 28 March 2004
2004-03-28
2004-02-07
Museum of Modern Art Hayama (Hayama, Japan)
9 April 2004 – 23 May 2004
2004-05-23
2004-04-09
Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art (Nagoya, Japan)
29 May 2004 – 25 July 2004
2004-07-25
2004-05-29
Tokyo Station Gallery (Tokyo, Japan)
http://www.ejrcf-or.jp- Art -
2004-02-07
Ben Nicholson Retrospective
Loan-out
7 July 2008 – 4 January 2009
2009-01-04
7 July 2008 – 21 September 2008
2008-09-21
2008-07-07
Abbot Hall Art Gallery (Kendal, UK)
http://www.abbothall.org.uk
11 October 2008 – 4 January 2009
2009-01-04
2008-10-11
De La Warr Pavilion (Bexhill on Sea, UK)
http://www.dlwp.com/
2008-07-07
Ben Nicholson
Loan-out
15 May 2010 – 26 September 2010
2010-09-26
15 May 2010 – 26 September 2010
2010-09-26
2010-05-15
Tate St Ives (St Ives, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/stives/
2010-05-15
Object
Collection based display
26 March 2011 – 5 June 2011
2011-06-05
26 March 2011 – 5 June 2011
2011-06-05
2011-03-26
Compton Verney (Compton Verney, UK)
2011-03-26
Wallis and Nicholson 'back to the beginning'
Loan-out
19 May 2012 – 23 September 2012
2012-09-23
19 May 2012 – 23 September 2012
2012-09-23
2012-05-19
Tate St Ives (St Ives, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/stives/
2012-05-19
1928
Collection based display
24 June 2015 – 28 August 2016
2016-08-28
24 June 2015 – 25 October 2015
2015-10-25
2015-06-24
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
27 November 2015 – 17 April 2016
2016-04-17
2015-11-27
Kröller-Müller Museum (Otterlo, The Netherlands)
22 May 2016 – 28 August 2016
2016-08-28
2016-05-22
Arp Museum Bahnhof Rolandseck (Remagen, Germany)
2015-06-24
Barbara Hepworth: Sculpture for a Modern World
Exhibition
24 June 2015 – 28 August 2016
2016-08-28
27 November 2015 – 17 April 2016
2016-04-17
2015-11-27
Kröller-Müller Museum (Otterlo, The Netherlands)
22 May 2016 – 28 August 2016
2016-08-28
2016-05-22
Arp Museum Bahnhof Rolandseck (Remagen, Germany)
2015-06-24
Barbara Hepworth
Loan-out
13 March 2021
13 March 2021
2021-03-13
Tate St Ives (St Ives, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/stives/
2021-03-13
Gallery 1: Modern Art and St Ives
Collection based display
1933 (guitar)
support: 832 × 197 mm
frame: 920 × 275 × 47 mm
Presented by the <a href="/search?gid=999999975" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">Contemporary Art Society</a> 1940
<p>By using an oddly shaped piece of wooden board rather than <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/canvas" title="Glossary definition for 'Canvas'"><span>canvas</span></a>, Nicholson created a work that lies somewhere between <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/s/sculpture" title="Glossary definition for 'Sculpture'"><span>sculpture</span></a> and <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a>. The effect is heightened by the <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/i/impasto" title="Glossary definition for 'Impasto'"><span>texture</span></a> of the surface, which was prepared with a layer of special <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/plaster-of-paris" title="Glossary definition for 'Plaster of Paris'"><span>plaster</span></a> that the artist cut into while it was still wet. Though now framed, Nicholson preferred to leave the work unprotected. <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/photograph" title="Glossary definition for 'Photograph'"><span>Photographs</span></a> show that instead of hanging it on a wall like a conventional painting, he kept his 'scratched <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/s/surrealism" title="Glossary definition for 'Surrealism'"><span>surrealist</span></a> guitar' propped on a mantelpiece in his studio.</p>
Display caption
2004-08-31T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>N05125</b> GUITAR 1933</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Inscr. ‘Ben Nicholson 1933’ on back-board.
<br/>Oil on panel, irregular at top, 32 3/4×7 3/4 (83×10·5), mounted on board, 35 1/4×10 (89·5×25).
<br/>Presented by the Contemporary Art Society 1940.
<br/><i>Coll:</i> Purchased by the C.A.S. 1934.
<br/><i>Exh:</i> Lefevre Gallery, October–November 1933 (29 or 30, repr.), as ‘Panel’; <i>Selected Paintings</i>, <i>Drawings and Pottery lent by the C.A.S.</i>, Leicester Galleries, October–November 1939 (63); Venice Biennale, 1954 (British Pavilion, 4); British Council, Amsterdam, Paris, Brussels and Zürich, 1954–5 (7); Tate Gallery, June–July 1955 (12); São Paulo Bienal, Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires, 1957–8 (2); Bern, May–July 1961 (21).
<br/><i>Repr:</i> Read, I, 1948, pl.57; Summerson, 1948, pl.16.</p>
<p>Three other <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>paintings</span></a> of guitars were executed in 1933: two in the H.S. Ede collection, one of which is repr. Read, I, 1948, pl.49, and one at Leeds, repr. <i>C.A.S. Report 1950</i>. One of the previous year is in the Barbara Hepworth collection and another formerly belonged to R. H. M. Ody, repr. Hodin, 1957, pls.19 and 14 respectively.</p>
<p><b>Published in:</b>
<br/>Mary Chamot, Dennis Farr and Martin Butlin, <i>The Modern British Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture</i>, London 1964, II
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-10-07T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
abstraction emotions, concepts and ideas fine arts and music formal qualities from recognisable sources hill instrument, guitar jug landscape landscape man-made objects texture vessels and containers