For the Modern

1941–1945

Mixes with Gabo, Moholy-Nagy and Nicholson in London

He makes contact with a range of artists in London, including Naum Gabo, László Moholy-Nagy and Ben Nicholson, and exhibits in a number of the city’s galleries, but with little success.

26 June 1945

Moves permanently to Ambleside

He settles permanently in the Lake District, at 2 Gale Crescent, Ambleside; he had first visited the area on holiday with Edith Thomas in September 1942.

February 1946

Second stroke and a move to a more accessible house

After another stroke and further illness he and Edith move to a more easily accessible house at 4 Millans Park.

1947

Awarded a £1,000 fellowship through MoMA

Shortly before his 60th birthday he learns that he has been awarded a £1,000 fellowship, transferred via the Museum of Modern Art in New York, to repair or re-create his earlier Merz constructions in Germany or Norway; instead he uses it for the ‘Merzbarn’.

7 January 1948

Learns he has been granted British citizenship

On 7 January 1948 he receives the news that he has been granted British citizenship; the next day he dies at Kendal Hospital of acute pulmonary oedema and myocarditis.