WINIFRED NICHOLSON | Flowers in a Winter Landscape

Acquired directly from the Artist's Estate by a Private Collection, London
Sale, Sotheby's London, 22nd July 1987, lot 398
Crane Kalman Gallery, London
Mr and Mrs W. K. Gibson, December 1988
Sale, Tennants, 18th November 2011, lot 1016, where acquired by the present owner

London, Crane Kalman Gallery, Modern British, December 1988, un-numbered exhibition.

The canvas bears a further oil painting by the same hand on the reverse. The canvas is original. The canvas undulates slightly in places, and in some of these areas there are associated instances of craquelure. There are extremely fine lines of craquelure around the edges and in or two places towards the extreme corners. There are some further scattered lines of craquelure in some places, in particular a horizontal line of craquelure to the flowers in the left vase. There are some possible, minor losses to some impasto tips, only visible upon extremely close inspection. There is some light surface dirt and some evidence of studio matter. This excepting the work appears to be in very good overall condition. Inspection under ultra violet light reveals fluorescence in keeping with the Artist's working methods and materials. The work is held within a simple 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."

We are grateful to Jovan Nicholson for his kind assistance with the cataloguing of the present work and for preparing the present catalogue note.

Although Winifred Nicholson’s paintings are primarily about colour she is also very much a painter of place. And while many of her best known and most loved pictures were painted on her various travels in the Hebrides, Greece or France, in many ways she was most at home in her native Cumberland, writing, “I have always lived in Cumberland – the call of the curlew is my call, the tremble of the harebell is my tremble in life, the blue mist of lonely fells is my mystery, and the silver gleam when the sun does come out is my pathway” (Winifred Nicholson, quoted in Andrew Nicholson (ed.), Unknown Colour, Paintings, Letters Writings by Winifred Nicholson, Faber and Faber, London, 1987, p.43).

 

Flowers in a Winter Landscape was painted at Winifred Nicholson’s house in North East Cumbria overlooking Tindale and Cold Fell at the end of the North Pennines. There is a work titled February also painted in 1971 (see Christopher Andreae, Winifred Nicholson, Lund Humphries, Aldershot, 2009, p.13), which bears a striking similarity to the present lot. In a letter written that March Winifred described her state of mind at the time: “There is a shimmer of snow on Tindale and a scatter of snowdrops everywhere – white foggy mist has lifted but will come down soon. I love my loneliness up here on this hillside. … All I need are the expression on the face of a crocus or on the face of the crescent moon waking me up looking in at my window – out of the mist and frost” (Winifred Nicholson in a letter to Ben Nicholson, March 1971, quoted in Jovan Nicholson, Winifred Nicholson in Cumberland, exh. cat., Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Kendall, 2016, p.75).