Ben Nicholson

I have been asked to discover why Ben Nicholson simplifies still life forms and negative space and superimposes them on the Cornish landscapes.

Ben Nicholson a Brief Life History

Ben Nicholson was the pioneer of geometric abstract paintings and reliefs that had a direct impact on the International Abstract Movement.
Nicholson was born on  April 10th 1894 in Denham he was the son of William Nicholson a painter and sculptor and his mother Mabel Pryde was also an artist.  He was only at the Slade School of Art for a short time and was dissatisfied with the formal training and wanted to find his own way.  He began work at Slade with cups, jugs, mugs and bottles and these were to feature in his later works. http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Ben_Nicholson.aspx
In 1904 He met JM Barrie and a picture by Ben Nicholson was used on the poster for the play Peter Pan and his father designed some of the sets and costumes.  His first marriage was to Winifred Roberts on 5th November 1920 they had three children.  They were later divorced in 1938.  He then married fellow artist Barbara Hepworth in 1938 and had triplets two daughters and a son and he then divorced in 1951. He finally married a german photographer Felicitas Voglar in 1957 and this also ended in divorce in 1977.
In 1924 his interest in Cubism increased and this was to influence his subsequent work throughout his life.  His works during the 1920's were simplistic landscapes painted in Ticino Switzerland, Cumberland and Cornwall where he first visited in 1928.  By the end of the decade Nicholson led a small group of artists identified with the Seven and Five Society.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Nicholson
The Seven and Five Society was founded in London in 1919. Initially it was a post war conservative group of artists promoting return to order.  The first exhibition was not formed to pioneer new 'isms'.  Ben Nicholson joined in 1924 followed by other modernists including Dame Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore and John Piper.  They virtually took over the group and renamed it the Seven and Five Abstract Group.
http://www.tate.org.uk/collections/glossary/definition.jsp?entryId=270
During the early 1930's modern art was mostly throught of by references to pre WW1 international development art groups.  Nicholson visited Paris and made aquaintances with Joan Miro, Piet Mondrian and Hans Arp.  These aquaintances coincided with a departure from landscape painting to a more geometrical abstract theme using flat space in relief.  He experimented and produced his first abstract relief in December 1933, followed by his first series of carved and white painted reliefs which gave him modernistic recognition.
http://www.nationalgalleries.org/collection/online_az/4:322/result/0/734?initial=N&artistId=3627&artistName=Ben%20Nicholson&submit=1 This link shows an example of his new style of work.
In 1937 he co-edited the Circle (international survey of constructive art)
In 1943 he settled in St Ives and he began to reintroduce landscapes to his work with geometric shapes in the foreground combining two concepts.  His reputation in St Ives was significant.
By the 1950's his international status was recognised and he was awarded the The Guggenheim International Painting Prize and the Prize for Painting at the Sao Paulo Biennale in 1957. He produced may large painting which combined landscape with abstract relief.
http://www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?criteria=O%3AAD%3AE%3A4293&page_number=&template_id=6&sort_order=1#bio
I think that Nicholson's interest in cubism and his own interpretation of his geometric shapes meant that he had to continue along this path.  The fact that he moved to Cornwall to be surrounded by beautiful countryside  and the combination of the two it had to be the only marriage that truely worked for him.