+ intro by Steve Foxon, Curator of Non-Fiction, BFI National Archive
An account of the life and work of the English painter Ben Nicholson, with reminiscences from the artist Patrick Heron, who took over Nicholson’s studio in St. Ives; the architect Sir Leslie Martin; the art dealer Andras Kalman; Dr Felicitas Vogler, writer, photographer, and Nicholson’s third wife; and Angela Verren, a close friend in the later years.
There are no stylistic frills to Ben Nicholson: the artist’s portrait is drawn through commentary, camera prowlings over assorted art works, and verbal testimony delivered to the unseen interviewer in largely undemonstrative settings (only the street life seen through Andras Kalman’s window threatens to sidetrack the viewer). Director John Read (son of Sir Herbert Read, who championed Nicholson’s work in the 30s) has had years of experience in television features on arts and artists, and his conventional approach at least leaves Nicholson’s canvasses room to breathe.
The star attraction among the interviewees is undoubtedly the ebullient Patrick Heron, displaying memorabilia left behind in Nicholson’s Cornish studio: pencil stubs; the schoolboy compasses used to draw the obsessive circles; the tattered card once pinned to the studio door, whose design, for Heron, resembles a Nicholson painting in miniature. At first this sounds fanciful, yet the film constantly stresses the nourishment Nicholson found in everyday objects. The bottles, vases and jugs inherited from the artist’s father Sir William Nicholson helped Ben make the leap into non-representational art; the tools of a plumber summoned for a leaking pipe lent their shapes to a large series of paintings. For all its stylistic antiquity, John Read’s film usefully outlines both the intellectual and domestic context of Britain’s most celebrated abstract artist.
Geoff Brown, Monthly Film Bulletin, October 1985
Alfred Wallis – Artist and Mariner
Christopher Mason’s film about the painter Alfred Wallis achieves the same mixture of curiosity and affectionate recall that characterised his earlier art documentary, Duncan Grant at Charleston. The film consists of reminiscences by surviving friends and relatives from Wallis’ native town of St. Ives, counterpointed by visuals showing us the paintings themselves and the real land- and seascapes that inspired them. The simple, deceptively childlike quality of Wallis’ art is stressed throughout: his early works were taken none too seriously by local friends, and it was Ben Nicholson who ‘discovered’ him, accidentally glimpsing Wallis’ paintings through the open door of the painter’s house while strolling through St. Ives with a friend. What comes through in Mason’s film, however, is not only the beguiling simplicity of the paintings – bright colours, unreal perspectives, doll-like human figures – but their very real and lyrical powers of landscape evocation.
Nigel Andrews, Monthly Film Bulletin, December 1973
Barbara Hepworth at the Tate
A record of the famed sculptor’s 1968 Tate retrospective, accompanied by a beguiling and crisply enunciated narration by Hepworth herself, which she describes her techniques and the aims of her work. The exhibition illustrates a broad range of Hepworth’s output, from early wood carvings to her abstract stringed figures of the 1930s and the monumental grandeur of her 1960s pieces.
BEN NICHOLSON 1894-1982
Director: John Read
Production Companies: Balfour Films, RM Arts, Arts International
Sponsor: Arts Council of Great Britain
Executive Producer: Rodney Wilson
Producer: Anne Balfour-Fraser
Researcher: Barbara Ann Taylor
Script: John Read
Commentary written and spoken by: John Read
Photography: Brian Grainger, Derek Waterman
Rostrum Photography: Ivor Richardson
Stills: Felicitas Vogler, Eileen Tweedy
Editor: Colin Sherman
Sound: Robert Allen, Clive Pendry
With
Patrick Heron
Felicitas Vogler
Leslie Martin
Andras Kalman
Angela Verren
UK 1985
52 mins
Digital
ALFRED WALLIS – ARTIST AND MARINER
Director: Christopher Mason
Production Company: Mason Bruce Associates
Sponsor: Arts Council of Great Britain
Producer: Christopher Mason
Script: Christopher Mason
Photography: Clive Tickner
Editor: Christopher Mason
Harmonium played by: Ben Nance
Voices recorded by: Roger Slack
Sound: Iain Bruce
UK 1973
22 mins
Digital
BARBARA HEPWORTH AT THE TATE
Director: Bruce Beresford
Production Company: British Film Institute
Sponsor: Arts Council of Great Britain
Photography: Bruce Beresford
Assistant Photographers: Cedric Pheasant, Richard Saunders
Editor: Trevor Craig
Art Consultant: Hugh Evans
UK 1969
12 mins
Digital
SIGHT AND SOUND
Never miss an issue with Sight and Sound, the BFI’s internationally renowned film magazine. Subscribe from just £25*
*Price based on a 6-month print subscription (UK only). More info: sightandsoundsubs.bfi.org.uk
BFI SOUTHBANK
Welcome to the home of great film and TV, with three cinemas and a studio, a world-class library, regular exhibitions and a pioneering Mediatheque with 1000s of free titles for you to explore. Browse special-edition merchandise in the BFI Shop.We're also pleased to offer you a unique new space, the BFI Riverfront – with unrivalled riverside views of Waterloo Bridge and beyond, a delicious seasonal menu, plus a stylish balcony bar for cocktails or special events. Come and enjoy a pre-cinema dinner or a drink on the balcony as the sun goes down.
BECOME A BFI MEMBER
Enjoy a great package of film benefits including priority booking at BFI Southbank and BFI Festivals. Join today at bfi.org.uk/join
BFI PLAYER
We are always open online on BFI Player where you can watch the best new, cult & classic cinema on demand. Showcasing hand-picked landmark British and independent titles, films are available to watch in three distinct ways: Subscription, Rentals & Free to view.
See something different today on player.bfi.org.uk
Join the BFI mailing list for regular programme updates. Not yet registered? Create a new account at www.bfi.org.uk/signup
Programme notes and credits compiled by Sight and Sound and the BFI Documentation Unit
Notes may be edited or abridged
Questions/comments? Contact the Programme Notes team by email