At the end of the TV show broadcast in 2022, three Nicholson experts deemed it a collaborative work between the artist and his friend Frederick Murray. However, a spokesperson for the Ben Nicholson Catalogue Raisonné Committee stressed there should be no confusion between “a TV entertainment programme with the opinion of the committee”.
The untitled wall painting was scheduled to appear at a Lay’s auction on April 11 where it was given a full attribution to Nicholson and estimated at £40,000-80,000.
In the run up to the sale, the Penzance saleroom was contacted by a member of the Ben Nicholson Catalogue Raisonné Committee who told them that the work would not be included in the catalogue of the artist’s works and that it was incumbent on them to notify prospective bidders.
Being told the committee’s opinion that the mural was “not a work by Ben Nicholson in whole, or in part”, Lay’s felt it was in the best interests of the vendor to withdraw the work.
While it is not unusual for authentication bodies to reject works and keep their reasons for doing so confidential, Lay’s said the verdict that Nicholson had no involvement in the work contradicted the earlier opinion made by the three Nicholson experts, two of whom were seemingly involved in compiling the catalogue raisonné.
A spokesperson for the auction house said: “This stance has not been explained and we just don’t know who is responsible for this perplexing decision.” They added: “With such a negative verdict, the mural becomes virtually unsalable.”
The vendor, Ian Herrington, told ATG he was left “speechless” and that he is now unsure what to do.
The spokesperson for the committee said: “The contributors to the TV programme do not represent the Ben Nicholson Catalogue Raisonné Committee. When consulted, after the broadcast of the programme, The Ben Nicholson Catalogue Raisonné Committee had an opportunity to inspect the work and reached the opinion that it is not, in whole or in part, a work by Ben Nicholson. The Ben Nicholson Catalogue Raisonné Committee has never held any prior or any different opinion.”
When asked by ATG about the reasons for the decision and the make up of the committee, the spokesperson said that its membership as well as “any external advice it receives, along with all its discussions, are held confidentially”.
Cost of removal
The mural, which was painted on a wall inside a Surrey cottage and dated to May 1947, appeared in an episode of BBC’s Fake or Fortune? aired in 2022. The house, Red Stream Cottage in Bramley, was the home of Fred and Madge Staite Murray, who were collectors and friends of Nicholson.
The work was originally painted onto the wall of a Surrey cottage and the vendor had it carefully removed.
The consignors at Lay’s, Ian Herrington and his wife Julie, had no previous experience of dealing with the art world, but bought the house around 20 years ago and had the mural carefully removed and preserved by specialists at a cost of around £15,000.
In their investigation, the Fake or Fortune? team focused on whether the artwork was by Nicholson or Fred Murray. Although some Nicholson specialists consulted on the programme felt that the work was a collaboration between the two men, the programme’s researchers made a vigorous case for the mural being by the single hand of Nicholson, a gift for his good friends the Staite Murrays and possibly worth up to £200,000.
At the end of the show the verdict of the Nicholson experts was revealed. They deemed it “probably an informal, collaborative piece, and potentially the result of a playful artistic dialogue between Ben Nicholson and his close friend and supporter, Fred Murray”.
On that basis it was valued by dealer and Fake or Fortune? presenter Philip Mould at between £50,000-100,000.
The Herringtons originally tried to sell the work at Bonhams in 2022. ATG understands that here also the auction house was similarly contacted by representatives from the Catalogue Raisonné project and it was decided to postpone the sale.
Earlier this year, the Herringtons then approached Lay’s who were unaware of the issues encountered when trying to sell the work previously.
Lay’s decided to fully attribute the work to Nicholson and, although they acknowledged the ‘collaborative’ verdict of experts in the catalogue entry, the firm’s publicity was bolder and made it clear that the auction house felt it was most plausibly by Nicholson alone.
The painting on view at the Lay’s saleroom prior to the auction.
This was, in part, on stylistic grounds. Lay’s said that the mural contains many elements of Nicholson’s paintings of the 1930s such as the use of lettering and scattered dots, but that also “the use of geometric lines and shapes within the mural align strongly with the works he was creating in the mid-to-late 1940s. We also know from his correspondence that he was developing a great appreciation of the music of Bach in 1947”.
However, in the Fake or Fortune? episode, one of the experts on the Ben Nicholson Catalogue Raisonné Committee, Dr Lee Beard, said the handling of the musical instrument in the painting was not consistent with the artist’s approach and it would normally be more ‘playful’.
In May 1947 the Staite Murrays lent five of their early Nicholson works (half their collection) to the Lefevre Gallery in London for a retrospective of his work. Lay’s said it is “not implausible to think that having stripped their walls of so many paintings, Nicholson painted the mural to show his appreciation, one that merged elements of his current work, and of the paintings he had taken away”.
Speaking to ATG, Ian Herrington said: “I can’t see what the problem is. Why can’t we just offer it and let people make up their own mind? I’m disappointed, it leaves you speechless and you think ‘what is going on?’.
“They’ve [the Catalogue Raisonné project] never explained how they made these decisions. Whether its worth £2000, £20,000 or £200,000, I don’t understand why they’re so involved with my painting.”
The wall painting appears to have been something that the Staite Murrays were proud of. It adorned the wall of a room where an alabaster sculpture by Hepworth was displayed and in later years was protected by a layer of perspex. When Madge died in 1991, her close neighbours of over 25 years, the Metcalfs, remembered many stories about other artists coming to visit who were shown ‘the Nicholson mural’.
Ian Herrington said: “It’s hard to believe this mural’s got nothing to do with Nicholson. The family and neighbours wouldn’t have made this up.”
This is not the first time a painting that appeared on Fake or Fortune? has ended up falling foul of a Catalogue Raisonné judgment. In 2018 the show investigated a still life with a jug and pears which had long been thought to be by William Nicholson (1872-1949) – the father of Ben.
The work had been acquired from a London dealer for £165,000 and the Fake or Fortune? team compiled a set of forensic evidence to support its authenticity. This included the testimony of a handwriting expert and scientific analysis of the pigments used.
However, the art historian Patricia Reed, a leading authority on the artist and author of William Nicholson: Catalogue Raisonné of the Oil Paintings, judged that the evidence was insufficient to conclude that “he actually executed the work himself”.
