A Very English Modernism

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Visual arts

A CONTINUOUS LINE: BEN NICHOLSON IN ENGLAND Abbot Hall KENDAL ****

The first wife of the painter Ben Nicholson, Winifred Nicholson, summed up the utopian beliefs of British modernism when she wrote: "To say a thing was modern was to say it was 'good', sweeping away Victorian, Edwardian, Old Theology, Old Tory views. In the new world there would be no slums, no unnecessary palm trees, no false ornament - but clarity, white walls, simplicity."

Ben Nicholson has long been recognised as one of the leading exponents of British modernism, and this delightful exhibition underlines the importance of his role. The son of the celebrated Edwardian …