Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/1532989
visual, 'musical', relationship is slightly more or less abstract is for me beside the point.' Whilst his earlier abstract paintings and reliefs had predominantly incorporated parallel lines and right-angles, in the post war period Nicholson began to use straight lines more freely, resulting in the suggestion of a range of oblique shapes as can be seen in Feb 28-53 (circle and cast shadow). As the artist acknowledged, this introduced an added complexity, the significance of which he explained in a letter to his fellow artist, Patrick Heron: 'In dealing with space I like a series of flat planes which interchange their position in depth […] I suppose the recent linear development is using a free movement to develop relationships in depth – but always I hope in depth & never on the single plane of the surface. One does not live on a single plane & so there is no reality in a single plane in a ptg'. [Letter to Patrick Heron, 9 February 1954] In line with his ongoing interest in the pictorial advancements of cubism, Nicholson had long been exploring through his art the manner in which a balance and interplay could be achieved of both real and illusionistic space. Whereas in his painting this was often realised through texture and colour, as well as drawn and incised line, with the advent of his celebrated carved reliefs in the 1930s he had introduced an actual three-dimensionality into his work. An important component of the carved reliefs was the presence of shadow. Not only did this define form and depth within the composition, it also created a virtual linear element which could be set in an ambiguous relationship with the drawn line or circle, a development that is playfully alluded to in the title of Feb 28-53 (circle and cast shadow). Dr Lee Beard, 2021 55