original text : (Automatic translation)
In 1951 Nicholson wrote ‘so far from being a limited expression understood by a few, abstract art is a powerful unlimited and universal language'. Nicholson wanted to apply 'constructivist' principles to art, advocating precision, clean lines and an absence of ornament. Rather than promoting an impersonal and mathematical aesthetic, he developed an intensely poetic and personal abstraction, reveling in ambiguities of form and space.

A pioneer of 20th Century abstract art in Britain, throughout his career Nicholson maintained a strong sense of tradition, making a lifetime connection to the genres of landscape and still life; as the foundations of all subsequent abstraction. Nicholson also played a significant role in the European avant-garde, forming close links with Picasso, Braque, Arp and Mondrian and acting as mentor to his peers at the Euston Road School.

The years between 1950 - 65, from which this work dates, marked an especially prolific period for the artist. In 1952 he won first prize at the Carnegie International; Pittsburgh, in 1956 he was awarded the first Guggenheim International painting prize, and in 1957 the international prize for painting at the Sao Paulo Biennale. At this stage in his career, Nicholson was seen, along with Henry Moore, as the quintessence of British modernism.

July 1955 (HB silver) is a fascinating example of Nicholson newfound 50's interest in still-life evoking cubist composition. Our eye is drawn in immediately to plasticity of the intensely coloured red shards, and then travels out to untangle the plays of lines and supporting planes, which represent bottles, glasses and tabletops and their broader location within space. Nothing is quite vertical or horizontal; sweeping lines intrigue and disorientate the viewer, never quite arriving where intended. In perfect complement, evocative accents of colour, tone and texture confirm, balance and make tangible the objects.