Benjamin Lauder "Ben" Nicholson, OM

Order of Merit

The Order of Merit is a British dynastic order recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or for the promotion of culture...

 (10 April 1894 – 6 February 1982) was a British painter of abstract

Abstract art

Abstract art uses a visual language of form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19th century, underpinned by the logic of perspective and an...

 compositions (sometimes in low relief), landscape and still-life.
Born on 10 April 1894 in Denham, Buckinghamshire

Denham, Buckinghamshire

Denham is a village and civil parish in the South Buckinghamshire district of Buckinghamshire, England. It is north west of Uxbridge and north of junction 1 of the M40 motorway. Denham contains the Buckinghamshire Golf Club.-Origin:...

, Nicholson was the son of the painters Sir William Nicholson

William Nicholson (artist)

Sir William Newzam Prior Nicholson was an English painter of still-life, landscape and portraits, also known for his work as a wood-engraver, illustrator, author of children's books and designer for the theatre....

 and Mabel Pryde

Mabel Pryde

Mabel Pryde was an artist, best known for being the wife of artist William Nicholson and mother of artists Ben Nicholson and Nancy Nicholson and the architect Christopher 'Kit' Nicholson....

, and the brother of artist Nancy Nicholson

Nancy Nicholson

Nancy Nicholson was a British painter and fabric designer.Born Annie Mary Pryde Nicholson, she was the only daughter of the artists Sir William Nicholson and Mabel Pryde. She had three brothers, sculptor Ben Nicholson, architect Christopher Nicholson and Anthony, who was killed in action in 1918...

, architect Christopher Nicholson

Christopher Nicholson

Christopher Nicholson was a leading British architect and designer of the early Modern Movement in Britain. His most notable works of the 1930s were comparable to the advanced modern abstract style of his older brother, the artist Ben Nicholson, OM, .-Early life and education:The son of artists...

 and Anthony Nicholson. The family moved to London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 in 1896; and Nicholson was educated at Tyttenhangar Lodge Preparatory School, Seaford

Seaford

-In the United States of America:*Seaford, Delaware*Seaford, New York*Seaford, Virginia*Seaford Hundred, an unincorporated subdivision of Sussex County, Delaware; see List of Delaware Hundreds-In Australia:*Seaford, Victoria**Seaford railway station, Melbourne...

, Heddon Court, Hampstead

Hampstead

Hampstead is an area of London, England, north-west of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Camden in Inner London, it is known for its intellectual, liberal, artistic, musical and literary associations and for Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland...

 and then as a boarder at Gresham's School

Gresham's School

Gresham’s School is an independent coeducational boarding school in Holt in North Norfolk, England, a member of the HMC.The school was founded in 1555 by Sir John Gresham as a free grammar school for forty boys, following King Henry VIII's dissolution of the Augustinian priory at Beeston Regis...

, Holt, Norfolk

Holt, Norfolk

Holt is a market town and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The town is north of the city of Norwich, west of Cromer and east of King's Lynn. The town is on the route of the A148 King's Lynn to Cromer road. The nearest railway station is in the town of Sheringham where access to the...

.