§ Winifred Nicholson (British 1893-1981) Awake, 1973 inscribed, titled and dated (to reverse), oil on canvas (60cm x 50cm (23.6in x 19.75in)) Footnote: Provenance: Crane Kalman Gallery, London, where acquired from the artist's family; Private Collection, UK. “I like painting flowers. I have tried to paint many things in many different ways, but my paintbrush always gives a tremor of pleasure when I let it paint a flower … to me they are the secret of the cosmos.” These were the reflections of Winifred Nicholson, one of the most celebrated British artists of the early twentieth century. Known for her still life and landscape compositions, Nicholson’s exploration of the genres often resulted in the merging of the two, developing what was to become an instantly recognisable style – that of a still life arrangement on a windowsill with an abruptly foreshortened view beyond. This sincerity which underpins her paintings accounts for their endless ability to provide their audience with pleasure, but their gentle warmth should not lead her admirers to underestimate her work. Nicholson deftly utilised Impressionist, Modernist, and Romantic tendencies to create a unique style and distinct touch which, though often bordering on the naïve, would be near impossible to imitate. Her influence can be traced in the works of her husband Ben Nicholson in his muted palette, and also in her contemporaries including Ivon Hitchens and Christopher Wood, with whom she was close. This keen eye and technical understanding also came to bear in her relationships with prominent French Modernists of the period. Nahum Gabo, Jean Hélion, and Alberto Giacometti became friends, and Nicholson’s private collection contained pieces by each of them. She was also the first British collector to buy a work by Piet Mondrian, as well as accompanying him to Britain from Paris in 1938. Nicholson entered into the most experimental phase of her career from the 1960s. Colour and light had always been the driving force behind her artistic explorations, Nicholson once articulating in a letter to her daughter that “…all painting is to me painting of air and sky – that holds colours and light – not pictures of objects.” This became increasingly true and, as light and colour are broken down into its purest form within a prism, her work became more pared back and abstracted. The offered painting Awake, painted in 1973, exemplifies this stage of her development. The title and the artwork are inseparably intertwined: the hazy colour palette and loose, textured daubs of brushwork successfully evoking the thin light of the early morning, and our own instinctive response to it. This piece came from the artist’s family’s own collection, before being featured in an exhibition at the Crane Kalman Gallery.