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5 the 1960s and 1970s that Nicholson created his iconic painted hardboard reliefs, such as Nov 1960 (Anne) and 1971 (Two squares and very green). In contrast to his earlier crisp, white reliefs of the 1930s, Nicholson carved into the surface using razor blades and chisels to create a dynamic intersection of textured planes before then applying blocks of colour. With his use of everyday materials and exploration into the status of art as an object, Nicholson was clearly engaging with the newly emerging Arte Povera movement. Like Alberto Burri, an artist he greatly admired, Nicholson was revolutionizing traditional painting methods. In 1964 he created a concrete wall relief which was exhibited alongside work by the Italian abstractionists Afro and Burri at Documenta III in Kassel, Germany. His inclusion in an exhibition which showcased the most radical contemporary art of the time shows the continued and meaningful contribution Nicholson was making to modernism. Nicholson's aesthetic at this time can also be understood within the context of Minimalism, including the work of the German artist group ZERO. ZERO's Heinz Mack, Otto Piene and Günther Uecker, who also exhibited at the 1964 Documenta III, desired emancipation from traditional genres and principles of art. They espoused a new visual language which centred on the ideals of purity, newness and light. Similarly, Nicholson's works such as 1970 (Menalon) and July 1977 (Vertical Landscape) have a purist quality with their simplified forms and colours, whilst luminous paintings such as June 1963 (lilac blue) illustrate Nicholson's intention to "liberate light". Long championed by his close friend Herbert Read, during the 1970s Read now demanded that Nicholson's work be understood within the context of international abstraction. By this time Nicholson had exhibited in significant shows around the world, including Cubism and Abstract Art, Museum of Modern Art, New York in 1936, International Exhibition of Modern Art, Musée d'Art Moderne, Paris in 1946, 39 th International Exhibition, Carnegie Institute in 1952 (at which he won first prize) and Geometric Abstraction: 1926–1942, Dallas Museum of Fine Arts in 1972. From his geometric paintings of the 1930s to his late painted hardboard reliefs of the 1970s, Nicholson contributed to modernism on an international scale, bringing a fresh approach to the language of abstraction.

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