EXERCISES
T
hegreatAmericanpoetWalt
Whitmanoncequippedthat
“theartofart,thegloryof
expression,is simplicity.”Hevowed
nevertobe“meddlesome”inthe
composition,andinsteadtokeep
it gloriouslysimple.Throughout
decadesasartistsandtutors,we
havemetcountlesscreativesthat
wishtheycouldstoptheirmeddling
andproduceartwithoutover-thinking,
over-complicatingandover-working.
Sohowdoyoumastertheartof
keepingit simple?Thisarticleis a
tasterofa coursewerunatStIves
SchoolofPaintingthatis inspiredby
twoiconsofsimplicity:WilliamScott
andBenNicholson.Thelatteronce
workedinPorthmeorStudioswhere
theschoolis nowbased.Ouraimwas
todiscoverthebeautyofsimplified
formsastheseartistsoncedid.
Wewantedtobringthehistoryof
reductionandabstractiontoliferight
whereit began,offeringstudentsthe
chancetoworkfromtheverysame
viewsofPorthmeorBeachandthe
AtlanticOceanthatNicholsononce
sawasheestablishedhimselfas
oneofthefathersofmodernism.Paintings like those of Scott or
Nicholson can appear to be conjured
from thin air when, in fact, the shapes
and lines were often the result of a
lengthy process of transformation.
With the rise of modernism, drawing
became less about representation
and more about condensing things
to their most essential nature. Both
painters used still life as a vehicle for
creating paintings of perfect balance
and simplicity.
Nicholson came to Cornwall in
1939 to escape the wartime bombing
in London and the move signalled
a change in his work from almost
clinical abstraction to a more rustic,
weathered style. Though resolutely
abstract, his 1940s paintings had
a domestic quality to them.
He had a collection of pots and jugs
that he inherited from his father and
drew time and again, clarifying them
down to their main lines. However, the
colours he chose anchored the work
to St Ives: chalky and putty planes,
layered up and scraped back. That
combination of still life and landscape
gave an enveloping sense of what it is
like to sit in one of the studios lookingout on Porthmeor Beach with a table
of jugs or cups of tea in the window.
Those pared back surfaces and
drawings took a long time to
complete. Nicholson would paint a
layer of oil paint and then leave it to
dry, sometimes outside in the
elements, then sand or scrape them
back and paint another. It was a
laborious process which the artist
likened to watching his mother scrub
the family kitchen table: an ordinary
and essential act of devotion.
William Scott was also concerned
with the domestic from his earliest
days as an artist – painting from the
objects that appeared readily in the
“grey, austere world” he described
growing up in. Again, his simplified
forms were the product of lengthy
process, involving reduction,
obliteration and capitalising on happy
accidents. The pans and eggs that
were the recurring motifs of his work
were valuable as shapes and lines,
rather than subjects. By reducing
them to pure form and function,
otherwise dreary and domestic
objects were transformed into
something suggestive, even sensual.TOP Ben Nicholson,
1932-’40 (Still Life),
oil and pencil on
canvas, 54x67cm
RIGHT The sea view
from the window at
Porthmeor Studios
PIER ARTS CENTRE, STROMNESS, ORKNEY. © ANGELA VERREN TAUNT. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, DACS 2019