Sir William Nicholson

The Nicholson Gallery, London, 1943
T. E. Milligan Grundy, Esq., and thence by descent to his Executors
Roland, Browse & Delbanco, London, 1954
Sale, Sotheby's London, 1st December 1954, lot 141, where acquired by Mrs. E. Q. Nicholson
1st Baron Wilmot, and thence by descent to Lady Wilmot
Her sale, Sotheby's London, 16th December 1964, lot 36, (as Andalusian Homestead, near Malaga) where acquired by Marlborough Fine Art
Knoedler Gallery, London
Sale, Christie's London, 23rd June 1994, lot 81, (as Andalusian Homestead, near Malaga) where acquired by David Bowie

London, Leicester Galleries, Paintings by Sir William Nicholson and Recent Paintings by Eve Kirk, April 1943, cat. no.45; 
London, Roland, Browse & Delbanco, Paintings by William Nicholson and Desmond Lord Harmsworth, March - April 1954, cat. no.11;
London, Royal Academy of Arts, The Art of William Nicholson, 30th October 2004 - 23rd January 2005, cat. no.51, illustrated p.104 and 154;
New York, Paul Kasmin Gallery, William Nicholson: Paintings, 16th February - 26th March 2006, un-numbered catalogue, illustrated p.32;
London, Hazlitt Holland-Hibbert, William Nicholson: Landscapes and Still Lives, October - November 2011.

Art Review: A Survey of British Art in All its Branches During the Year, Artist Publishing Company, London, 1935, illustrated p.38 (as A Farm in Malaga);
Lillian Browse, William Nicholson, Rupert Hart-Davis, London, 1956, cat. no.451 (as Andalusian Homestead, near Malaga);
Andrew Nicholson (ed.), William Nicholson Painter, Giles de la Mare Publishers Limited, London, 1996, illustrated p.245;
Sanford Schwartz, William Nicholson, Yale University Press, London and New Haven, 2004, illustrated p.230 (as Andalusian Homestead near Malaga);
Patricia Reed, William Nicholson: Catalogue Raisonné of the Oil Paintings, Modern Art Press, London, 2011, cat. no.742, illustrated p.568. 

The board is very slightly bowed. The board is unevenly trimmed along the right vertical edge, with a few tiny flecks of corresponding loss. There is an area of loss, possibly through frame abrasion, to the extreme edge in the upper right corner. There are very fine lines of craquelure to the sky and there are small areas of reticulation in places throughout the composition. The impasto elements are very slightly flattened. The grain of the canvas is visible through the painted surface in two places of the white pigment in the upper right quadrant, possibly old losses. There is a small flake of loss to one impasto element in the upper right quadrant, and a further very small loss to the tip of one impasto element in the lower right quadrant. Inspection under ultraviolet light reveals scattered small areas of sensitive restoration and re-touching in places. The works is held in a carved varnished wooden frame. Please telephone the department on +44 (0) 207 293 6424 if you have any questions regarding the present work.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Andalusian Homestead was painted in the summer of 1935 during William Nicholson’s stay in Malaga, Spain when he met Marguerite Steen, who would soon become the artist’s companion for the rest of his life. Before returning to England, Nicholson left a note for Steen on a card from his London studio, Apple Tree Yard, inviting her to take up residence with him there. The card read: ‘Malaga June. Just an invitation – more permanent than any wave. W.’ and on the back was a sketch of the present work (Andrew Nicholson (ed.), William Nicholson, Giles de la Mare Publishers Limited, 1996, p.244). Nicholson was likely referencing Steen’s weekly trip down an arroyo, or river bank, to the hairdresser to get a ‘permanent wave’ or ‘perm’. The diminutive size of the figure and animals below the farmhouse silhouetted against the minimal bright blue sky imply that the work was painted from part way up the opposite hill across Steen’s arroyo. 

Unconcerned with modernist theories and uninterested in writing or talking about his work, Nicholson found his artistic voice as a fine artist in the still-lifes, intimate portraits, and small landscapes that he painted from a personal compulsion while supporting himself as a portraitist. His paintings of places encountered near home or on travels, such as the works inspired by the new and exciting vistas that he discovered in Spain, were pictorial explorations that often summoned more genuine responses than his commissioned works. Though relatively small in scale, Nicholson’s landscapes often capture vast expanses and are delivered with a modesty free from dramatisation. These impressive sceneries include minute inhabitants that the viewer can empathise with, such as the farmer and pack-mule at the foot of the sunbaked hillside in Andalusian Homestead, encouraging the viewer to be drawn into Nicholson’s experience of the place.  

‘The paintings are alive for us today because at their best they have a great tranquility and embody a direct response to the friends or places or things that had caught the artist’s eye’ (Alan Bowness in Andrew Nicholson (ed.), William Nicholson, Giles de la Mare Publishers Limited, 1996, p.10). A vista intrinsically linked to the start of his relationship with Marguerite Steen, Andalusian Homestead exemplifies the natural and charming visual language that Nicholson developed while creating a pictorial diary of experiences that he felt compelled to record.