View of Artist Textiles: Picasso to Warhol, Aberdeen Art Gallery, with Princess by Ben Nicholson (third from right).
Have you been to see Artist Textiles: Picasso to Warhol special exhibition at Aberdeen Art Gallery yet? Not only does it showcase striking textiles and garments, it also gives us a glimpse into the personal lives of some of the artists and the impact life and love had on their art.
Ben Nicolson and Barbara Hepworth are just two of the major twentieth century artists whose work is featured in the exhibition. Dennis Nothdruft, curator of Artist Textiles and Head of Exhibitions at the Fashion and Textile Museum, visited in February to give an introduction to the show. This sparked my interest in the story behind one of the textiles on display, Princess by Ben Nicholson.
It all started in summer 1931, when modernist painters and sculptors Ben Nicholson and Barbara Hepworth met on holiday in Norfolk. They quickly fell in love and Hepworth would become a major influence on Nicholson’s art. They travelled around Europe together, encountering many of the most avant-garde artists of the day, including Joan Miró, Piet Mondrian and Pablo Picasso.
Princess (detail), Ben Nicholson
Through these adventures and encounters, Nicholson adopted a cubist approach to his artworks, as seen in the textile, Princess. The design features Hepworth’s distinctive side profile, which Nicholson often used as a motif. Crowns and other patterns surround his ‘Princess’. The block-printed fabric sold as bedspreads, curtains and other domestic items, which relieved some the pressures on Nicholson’s poor finances.
The couple shared a love for each other, for modernist avant-garde art and breaking boundaries between sculpture and paintings. In the mid 1930s Hepworth wrote: “I think the thing to work at is that work & living is the same thing… All is one movement.” This artistic love story continues beyond our Artist Textiles exhibition. Head to Gallery 17 – Abstract Art, where you can see more works by Nicholson and Hepworth.
View of Gallery 17 – Abstract Art, Aberdeen Art Gallery, with (foreground) Meditation by Dame Barbara Hepworth, 1972 © Bowness, Hepworth Estate (2003) and (on wall, left) March 14 – 47 (Still Life on Table) by Ben Nicholson, 1947 © Angela Verren Taunt. All rights reserved, DACS 2021
