Ben Nicholson was a British artist known for his abstract paintings and reliefs. He was born in Denham, Buckinghamshire, England, to the artists William Nicholson and Mabel Pryde, and grew up surrounded by the artistic community of London. Nicholson studied at the Slade School of Fine Art in London and later traveled to France, Italy, and Switzerland to study art. In 1924, he became a member of the Seven and Five Society, a group of artists who were experimenting with abstract and non-representational art. Throughout the 1930s, Nicholson continued to develop his abstract style, working in both painting and relief sculpture. He was particularly interested in the relationship between positive and negative space and the use of colour and form to create a sense of movement and energy. In the 1940s, Nicholson began to incorporate found objects, such as driftwood and pebbles, into his work, adding a tactile quality to his abstract compositions. He also began to explore the use of white and black in his paintings, creating subtle tonal variations that gave his work a sense of depth and texture. Nicholson was an influential figure in the British art world and was awarded the Order of Merit in 1968. His work can be seen in numerous public collections around the world, including the Tate Gallery in London and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.