Single jug and single cup, 1965

Rahmen: 518 x 462 x 42 mm
Pressspanplatte: 520 x 448 mm
Blatt: 330 x 263 mm
Platte: 245 x 201 mm

Physical Description: Black balltip pen and oil paint on wove paper, with visible indentations created by the edges of the plate of a proof (printed on the verso and crossed out with pencil and a black drawing medium), mounted on press board, painted grey and scraped, in wooden frame

Inventory Number: 17905

Object Number: 17905 Z

Acquisition: Acquired in 2019 as a bequest from Ulrike Crespo from the Karl Ströher Collection

Status: Not on display

Texts

About the Work

Behind the glass of this framed object, we see a still-life drawing against a background animated with dynamic scrapes. Nicholson drew it on the back of a print reject (the edges of the plate are clearly discernible). With a few sparse lines, he described a jug and a cup. The contours intersect and merge. In one place, the artist accentuated the drawing with a small zone of black. The theme of the composition is the tension between the lines, but also the relationships between surface and space, object and drawing.

About the Acquisition

The Städel Museum has the photographer, psychotherapist, philanthropist, and long-time Frankfurt resident Ulrike Crespo (1950–2019) to thank for more than ninety works ranging from classical modernism to American pop art. The paintings, drawings, and prints by Wassily Kandinsky, Otto Dix, Oskar Schlemmer, Max Ernst, Jean Dubuffet, Cy Twombly, and others originally belonged to the holdings of her grandfather, the Darmstadt-based industrialist Karl Ströher (1890–1977), who amassed an extensive art collection after World War II.

Work Data

Basic Information

Title: Single jug and single cup

Draughtsman

Ben Nicholson

Period Produced

20th century

Object Type

drawing

Physical Description: Black balltip pen and oil paint on wove paper, with visible indentations created by the edges of the plate of a proof (printed on the verso and crossed out with pencil and a black drawing medium), mounted on press board, painted grey and scraped, in wooden frame

Material

Technique

Geographic Reference

English

Label at the Time of Manufacture: Verso auf dem Velinpapier signiert, datiert und bezeichnet unten rechts (mit Bleistift): Nicholson / oct 65 / over [daneben auf recto verweisender Pfeil]; bezeichnet unten links (von fremder Hand?, mit rotem Stift): p 682 [um 90 Grad gedreht]
Verso auf der Rahmenrückwand bezeichnet mittig (von fremder Hand?): NICHOLSON / L965 / (single jug + single cup) / p. 682 // [Richtungspfeil]

Watermark

Nicht feststellbar

Property and Acquisition

Institution

Städel Museum

Departement

Department of Prints and Drawings

Collection

Städelsches Kunstinstitut

Creditline: Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main

Picture Copyright: © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2023

Acquisition: Acquired in 2019 as a bequest from Ulrike Crespo from the Karl Ströher Collection

Work Content

Motifs and References

Genre

still life

Iconclass

Primary

0 Abstract, Non-representational Art
41C324 tankard
41C32 drinking-vessels

Secondary

49D32 line (~ planimetry, geometry)

Research and Discussion

Provenance

Object History: Verkauf durch Gimpel & Hanover, Zürich an Karl Ströher (1890-1977), Darmstadt, 1966

Nachlass Karl Ströher, 1977

an seine Enkelin Ulrike Crespo (1950-2019), Frankfurt am Main

Vermächtnis an das Städelsche Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt am Main, 2019.

Information

Since 2001, the Städel Museum has systematically been researching the provenance of all objects that were acquired during the National Socialist period, or that changed owners or could have changed owners during those years. The basis for this research is the “Washington Declaration”, also known as the “Washington Conference Principles”, formulated at the 1998 “Conference on Holocaust-Era Assets” and the subsequent “Joint Declaration”.

The provenance information is based on the sources researched at the time they were published digitally. However, this information can change at any time when new sources are discovered. Provenance research is therefore a continuous process and one that is updated at regular intervals.

Ideally, the provenance information documents an object’s origins from the time it was created until the date when it found its way into the collection. It contains the following details, provided they are known: