Rachel Nicholson
A mug, a spoon and a landscape
Anita Rogers Gallery, New York
June 8 – August 26, 2023
Anita Rogers Gallery presents a solo exhibition of works by British artist RACHEL NICHOLSON (b.1934). The painter, daughter of artists Ben Nicholson (1894-1982) and Barbara Hepworth (1903-1975), began her career in her early 40s and has since become known for her sensitive still lifes and landscape paintings. This exhibition includes works from both genres in acrylic and oil on canvas, paper, and board. This selection is complemented by two works on paper by the artist’s father, Ben Nicholson.
Rachel Nicholson’s work is defined by her simple yet powerful renderings, her balanced sense of color, and her understanding of harmonious patterns and geometry. In her still life paintings, she focuses on the small yet meaningful items that make up our daily lives – cups, spoons, pitchers. She elevates her subjects to objects of admiration and tenderness, often setting them against minimal or abstracted color fields.
On her work, the artist states:
“My paintings are a way of trying to bring a sense of peace, and the hope that this will be extended to the viewer.”
This sense of harmony she aims for is achieved through her color and subject choices, through her shadowless and seemingly weightless objects, and through her affectionate depictions of serene places she visited as a child, including Cumbria, Derbyshire and the West Country. Rachel had her first solo exhibition forty-three years ago in London in June 1980 – there, her father Ben Nicholson commented on her painting Still Life on Navy Blue (1979): ‘I had never realised she could paint so well. I would have been happy to have painted that one myself.’ Indeed, Rachel comes from a long line of artists with similar sensibilities – her father Ben Nicholson and her grandfather William Nicholson both had a deep love of still life painting. While the name Ben Nicholson may immediately conjure images of geometric work for many, the modernist started his career in still life and returned to it often during his life. This exhibition is complemented by two such works on paper – one still life and one landscape by Ben Nicholson.
Rachel Nicholson has exhibited with several galleries across the UK; this is the artist’s first solo exhibition in New York City. Numerous works by the artist have been sold at auction, including Composition on Black and Green with Two Cups sold at Bonhams and Orange Mug & Cup on Paynes Gray at Sotheby’s in 2022, both for over double the estimate.
ANITA ROGERS GALLERY
494 Greenwich Street, New York, NY 10013
