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Helen Sutherland, patron, collector and friend of Ben Nicholson

Myths about the protean modernist artist have left the agency of the patron - particularly women patrons - in modern art a relatively under-developed area of study. In the case of Helen Sutherland (1881-1966), her contribution to the history of 20th century British art involved far more than money, for she offered artists, writers and musicians friendship, hospitality, empathy, a keen awareness of creativity and a desire for the contemporary. This article is the first piece of writing on Sutherland to engage with the extensive archival material that exists and which documents her exchange with artists and writers. Focusing on her relationship with Ben Nicholson, it tracks the growth of her collection of his work. It also traces their association in relation to the development of a purist modernist aesthetic and in relation to Sutherland’s way of life, as she moves away from London and a failed marriage, to Rock Hall in Northumberland and then at Cockley Moor, in Cumbria. The article covers their entire friendship, up to her death.