“Immortal Mind: Christian Science and Ben Nicholson’s Work of the 1930s”

Kent, Lucy. “Immortal Mind: Christian Science and Ben Nicholson’s Work of the 1930s.” The Burlington Magazine, vol. 157, no. 1348, 2015, pp. 474–81.

Ben Nicholson was a major abstract artist of the twentieth century and a student of Christian Science [CS]. In this article art historian Lucy Kent summarizes her doctoral dissertation which explores Nicholson’s belief that material reality was a destructive illusion and therefore art should express reality beyond common appearances. Nicholson credits CS theology as a formative influence in this effort, and many of his personal notebook writings paraphrase Eddy’s words about art, such as her provocative question, “…why is it more difficult to see a thought than to feel one?” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, 86:13), and “From the infinite elements of the one Mind emanate all form, color, quality, and quantity, and these are mental, both primarily and secondarily.” (Science and Health, 512:21–24). Nicholson referred to his works as ideas rather than paintings or sculptures. Nicholson also intended his expressive art to incite social change by fostering a state of mind that is spiritually constructive rather than materially destructive. However, “Nicholson was perplexed by the general lack of enthusiasm for abstract art within the CS community” (480), suggesting that many who studied CS did not feel its transforming power as he did.

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