Art and Life, Dulwich Picture Gallery

Continuing their Modern British series, Dulwich Picture Gallery will exhibit work by a closely collaborating group of painters from the years 1920 to 1931. Leading the crowd was British art’s most famous married couple, Ben and Winifred Nicholson.
The Nicholsons…
Ben Nicholson is most famous today for his ascetic abstract canvases, often low relief and sometimes monotone in colour. But prior to his ‘conversion’ to abstract art, Nicholson produced a kind of ‘Modern Art’ filled with domestic and maritime imagery; here his power lies in an array of understated harmonies. Winifred Nicholson was less interested in taking up the Modernist mantel and painted many highly colourful still-lifes (mostly vases of flowers) and landscapes. 
The Exhibition…
British modern painting from this time is often thought of as being visually and intellectually behind its continental counterparts. This exhibition is important and a must-see because it will allow the viewer to approach the work on its own terms. The Nicholsons’ views of particular landscapes will be on show alongside Christopher Wood’s interpretations of the same views, showing how these artists seriously responded to the British countryside. Look our for the paintings by Alfred Wallis, an un-taught or ‘naïve’ painter and former fisherman discovered by the Nicholsons, whose perspective defying paintings are often on salvaged bits of cardboard. They capture feelings of maritime life with a poetic sense of honesty. What is unique, and what makes this an unmissable exhibition, is that alongside this very ‘British’ kind of painting there will be William Staite Murray’s ceramics, whose stunning pots sometimes use Nicholson’s stylishly muted palette. 
A lot of this work is held at Kettle’s Yard, an exquisite gallery of 20th century British art and part of the University of Cambridge. Dulwich are collaborating with them to stage this ambitious show. Continuing the Nicholson tradition, this will be a family affair, curated by Ben’s and Winifred’s grandson Jovan.