A biography of Ben Nicholson (1894-1982), a leading light of the British modern movement. Instrumental in forging a bridge between retrogade London and members of the Paris avant-garde of the 30s, including Georges Braque, Piet Mondrian, Naum Gabo and Kandinsky, he was also the creator of one of the rich decade's most famous icons, his white reliefs. This book shows how Nicholson's personality contrasted strongly with the austere image progected by both himself and his critics. His was a Peter Pan character, obsessed with ball games and word play, a dandy whose life entailed a succession of triangular relationships in which he either strung along two women or dallied with other men's wives.