Winifred Nicholson

(British, 1893-1981)

View from my Bedroom 68.6 x 76.2 cm. (27 x 30 in.)

Footnotes

Provenance
The Artist, from whom acquired directly by the family of the present owner
Private Collection, U.K.

Literature
Christopher Andreae, Winifred Nicholson, Lund Humphries, Farnham, 2009, p.160, cat.no.151 (col.ill.)

Winifred Nicholson's paintings are so often celebratory. They are riotous odes to ephemeral sources of joy, whether that be an exquisite vista or a flower of especial beauty, expressed with delight in colour and form. Alongside celebration, a consistent theme in her work is seasonality and the comfort one finds in the familiarity of experience as each year passes.

The present painting, a classic example of Nicholson's signature windowscapes painted from her own bedroom, displays both these themes. Outside the window the trees are bare of leaves, awaiting the arrival of Spring, and a dove-grey sky hangs low over distant wintery fells beyond. Once Spring arrives, Nicholson would often populate her windowscapes with sprouting bulbs or early cut flowers. Here however, perhaps painting too early in the season for such props, Nicholson turns her brush to a book resting open.

Nicholson's enjoyment of reading is touched upon in a letter to a friend where she wrote 'It's good weather to paint, the world looks wonderful, but I'm more interested in my new book, which is into its third volume, and I've had a delicious lonely fortnight'. (Letter to Kathleen Raine, St Patrick's Day 1949). The literary context of the present work is emphasised by Nicholson's choice of colour, specifically the dazzling patterned curtains which flank the composition. Nicholson considered that 'yellow is the atmosphere of wisdom, reflection and calm' (Winifred Nicholson, 'World Review' Liberation of Colour, 1944).

The title of the present work confirms the room is the Artist's and in 1954 Nicholson wrote a short piece entitled I Like To Have A Picture In My Room, in which she lists desires for her ideal domestic space. She states 'I want a window in it, I want a telephone, a radio and a television set. All these are contacts and doors in the outer world' (Winifred Nicholson, 'Christian Science Monitor', I Like To Have A Picture In My Room, 1954). A book, of course, could be added to this list as a means to view the world beyond a room. As such the present work contains two 'windows' on to the world, each awarded almost equal pictorial space by Nicholson, thus affording a dual interpretation of the painting's title View from my Bedroom.

We are grateful to Jovan Nicholson for his assistance in cataloguing this lot.