Artistic patriarch clearly far from the dullard of legend

The first major exhibition in more than 20 years devoted to the early 20th-century artist showcases William Nicholson's talent - and his flaws - in depth

- Mark Hudson

William Nicholson

Pallant House Gallery, Chichester

Grumpy patriarch is never the best of looks, and certainly not in these identity-obsessed times. William Nicholson begat one of art’s most dynamic dynasties: as father of the leading modernist Ben Nicholson, father-in-law of Barbara Hepworth, arguably the greatest British sculptor of the 20th century, and grandfather and great-grandfather to whole troupes of talented younger artists. Yet far from being celebrated for this inadvertent contribution, old man Nicholson tends to be written off as a charmless reactionary curmudgeon, who produced remarkable illustrations early in his career, but otherwise towed the academic line and was at painful loggerheads with his more farsighted son.

Interest in the Nicholsons is currently at a high, with Ben’s first wife Winifred’s paintings currently showing at Bath’s Holburne Museum, and William’s own wife Mabel Pryde the focus of a forthcoming show in Cambridge. So this feels a good moment for Pallant House to turn the spotlight on the controversial artist who kicked the whole thing off, with the first major show in over 20 years for what it describes as “one of Modern British art’s most beloved and versatile figures”.

It’s apparent from the show’s first room that far from being the dullard of legend, William Nicholson was a precocious fin-de-siecle dandy, who dipped in and out of many of the cutting-edge tropes of the early 20th-century London avant garde.