Patrick Heron. Interviewed by John Read - ACE150.3

Heron on Nicholson’s "white reliefs", intended to eliminate figuration; "with time, certain associations accrue to these images"; images are "read back into reality"; facts are relative in their significance and mean different things at different times. The influence on the design world of Nicholson’s organisation of pure circles with pure rectangles. Heron on Nicholson’s "line", comparing him favourably with Mondrian. Nicholson’s landscapes from Yorkshire and West Cornwall, both places from Heron’s past. On Nicholson’s need for privacy. Heron on Nicholson after he left St. Ives; his work in the 1940s; the influence of Georges Braque. On Nicholson’s still life work; how Cornwall, uniquely among British landscapes, has had an influence on the twentieth century British avant-garde; influence of Picasso and Braque. Nicholson’s "English-ness"; his delicacy (sometimes overdone), his speed. Elements of Cubism and Constructivism. "The greatest English painter since Turner." On Turner and Constable.