Winifred Nicholson (British, 1893-1981) Port Isaac, Cornwall 60.5 x 86 cm. (23 7/8 x 33 7/8 in.)...

Winifred Nicholson (British, 1893-1981) Port Isaac, Cornwall signed and titled 'Porth Isaac Cornwall Winifred Nicholson' [sic] (on the stretcher bar) oil and metallic spraypaint on canvas 60.5 x 86 cm. (23 7/8 x 33 7/8 in.) Painted circa 1970 with a further painting of a cove to the reverse, by the same hand Footnotes: Provenance The Artist, from whom acquired directly by the family of the present owner Private Collection, U.K. In 1960 Winifred Nicholson returned to live at her home Bankshead in Cumberland, after two decades spent living with her parents at Boothby. With much of her time spent helping both her parents and her own children (her return to Boothby being partly motivated by concerns for her children's safety during the years of the Second World War), she felt that a great deal of her energy was diverted away from painting, but moving back to Bankshead allowed much greater opportunity to focus on her own work. This enabled other freedoms, and during these two decades she travelled extensively, often with her daughter Kate, making trips to Greece and its islands nearly every year from 1960-67. They also journeyed to Italy, Sicily and Corfu in 1968 and in 1970 Winifred visited Kate in St Ives, Cornwall, around the time the present work was executed. Cornwall, and St Ives in particular, has played a significant role in inspiring artists in 20th Century British art, and the present work demonstrates just why it exerts the evocative pull that it does. With rocky landscapes, dramatic coastlines and a particularly luminous quality of light – something Nicholson was extremely sensitive to – Cornwall has proved a particularly rich source of inspiration. Here the location is Port Isaac, a small fishing village in north Cornwall, facing the Atlantic. Nicholson was so fascinated by light because of its ability to influence the colour and form of an object itself, and indeed here we can see in the richness of the palette that she has used how drawn she was to paint in Cornwall: the rocks have a warm, red-brown glow which seems to infuse the air and water which whirls around them, giving a sense of the fluidity and ephemeral nature of the elements in this part of the world. Just as vital as the light was the blustery and changeable weather, something which Nicholson favoured, noting on a trip to Scotland that: 'I find continuous blue calm difficult to paint. One feels inclined to lie on a cliff in the warm sun smelling the scent of the Rowan blossom and watching the great sea birds wheeling and coasting in the blue sparkling gulf of sky before one alights on the blue sparkling sea' (Winifred Nicholson, letter to Kate Nicholson, quoted in Christopher Andreae, Winifred Nicholson, Lund Humphries, Farnham, 2009, p.167). Nicholson has captured these mercurial conditions to great effect in the present lot. Lilting turquoise seas froth and splash, and with flowing brushstrokes Nicholson effortlessly conjures the flurries of wind and water as they swirl and course around the exposed promontory, and whistle through the grasses which dot the headland. As Nicholson focussed once again on painting with renewed vigour, the period from the mid-1960s onwards also engendered a sense of experimentation, where she tried out different mediums and explored the use of prisms which introduced a wider spectrum of colour into her work. There is a sense of real movement to the picture, be it clouds scudding across the sky or birds dipping and skimming through the sky, and the rushing waves of the sea, the swell and tide clearly evident in the dashes of white surf which top the blue swell, indicated by fluid and sweeping brushwork. Inspired by her daughter Kate's use of the medium, around this time she started experimenting with silver spraypaint which she has used evocatively to suggest a fine mist of silvery spray as it splashes onto the rocks. The present lot comes from a Private Collection whose family had a close friendship with the artist. The family would visit Winifred at her home Bankshead, Cumbria in the 1970s, and these trips were recalled as 'full of fun and enjoyment, especially with her dog Sally and long walks through the country lanes. Winifred always had lots of time for us children, playing games and showing us interest. My siblings and I remember the feeling of Winifred's incredible warmth and affection. She was always very welcoming to us and the many other friends and family visiting whilst we were there.' Winifred would also visit the family in London when she was in the capital city, and visit the nearby Christian Science Church, through which the friends met. We are grateful to Jovan Nicholson for his assistance in cataloguing this lot. This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: AR AR Goods subject to Artists Resale Right Additional Premium. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing