Winifred Nicholson was a British painter of landscape and still life, often combining the two subjects. She was a representative of the Post-Impressionism art movement.
Background
Nicholson was born in Oxford, England, United Kingdom, on December 21, 1893. Her parents were Charles Henry Roberts, a Liberal Party politician, and Lady Cecilia Maude Roberts, a daughter of the politician George Howard, 9th Earl of Carlisle, and of the activist Rosalind Howard.
Education
Nicholson was encouraged to paint as a child by her grandfather George Howard. He was a capable amateur painter and also a friend of the Pre-Raphaelites Edward Burne-Jones and William Morris, and of the Italian landscape painter Nino Costa, who was the founder of the Etruscan School. Nicholson began her formal studies at the Byam Shaw School of Art (present-day Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design) in London from 1912 until the onset of World War I in 1914. When the war was over she returned to the college and studied there from 1918 to 1919.
In 1919 Winifred Nicholson travelled a lot with her father to Burma (present-day Myanmar), Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and India. After her marriage in 1920, the Nicholsons purchased a villa in Switzerland, the Villa Capriccio. It was near the village of Castagnola on the north shore of Lake Lugano, Ticino. They spent the summers in Britain and the winters in Switzerland, creating mainly still-lifes and landscapes.
In 1923 Winifred and her husband, Ben, had exhibitions alongside each other (the first of many joint exhibitions) at Paterson Gallery in London. In 1924 Winifred acquired an old farmhouse, Bankhead, in Cumbria. This house became a source of enormous inspiration for Winifred Nicholson. Artists such as Paul Nash, Ivon Hitchens and Christopher Wood frequently visited the Nicholsons at Bankshead.
In 1927 Winifred Nicholson was seriously injured due to her fall through a trapdoor while hanging an exhibition at Beaux Arts. Fortunately, she recovered quite soon and in 1930 she gave her first solo exhibition at the Leicester Galleries. After separating from Ben Nicholson, she moved with her three children to Paris in the year 1932. While in Paris the painter met many prominent artists such as Wassily Kandinsky, Naum Gabo and Piet Mondrian. Although she painted less in the abstract style than in the representational, Nicholson did experiment with her own form of abstraction in the 1930s.
By 1938 Nicholson returned to Britain. Since that time she extensively travelled around the world and concurrently painted the places she visited. In 1969 her retrospective exhibition was held at Abbot Hall Art Gallery in Kendal. Shortly afterwards, twelve of her pictures were presented at the Hayward Gallery. In 1972 she held a solo exhibition at Kettle's Yard, Cambridge, and in 1979 a retrospective exhibition, which was organised by the Scottish Arts Council.
Winifred Nicholson joined the 7&5 Society in 1925.
7&5 Society
,
United Kingdom
1925
Connections
Winifred Nicholson married the artist Ben Nicholson on November 4, 1920. He was the son of the painters Sir William Newzam Prior Nicholson and Mabel Pryde. She and Ben eventually became parents of three children: Jake (born in 1927), Kate (born in 1929), and Andrew (born in 1931). By the time of Kate's birth, there were serious tensions in the relationships between the two. In 1931 Ben Nicholson met Barbara Hepworth. Some time later he married her, separating from Winifred Nicholson in 1938.