NANCY NICHOLSON (1899-1977) AND GEOFFREY TAYLOR (PHIBBS) (1900-1956)
'BLACK BIRD' TWO PAIRS OF CURTAINS, DESIGNED 1931
£1,000
Auction: 11 November 2015 at 11:00 GMT
Description
hand block printed on cotton, lined and interlined with pleated pelmets and tie backs in the same material (10)
Dimensions
each curtain, 284cm x 156cm
Footnote
Moore, Helena, 'The Nicholsons: A Story of Four People and their Designs’, York City Art Gallery, 1988, p. 45, illus.
Note: Nancy Nicholson was the only daughter of the artists Sir William Nicholson and Mabel Pryde. She had three brothers, sculptor Ben Nicholson, architect Christopher Nicholson and Anthony, who was killed in action in 1918 in the First World War.
In 1929, after the break-up of her marriage to Robert Graves, Nicholson opened Poulk Prints in Wiltshire, producing hand printed fabrics along with her then partner the Irish poet Geoffrey Taylor.
She moved her business into Motcomb Street, London in the 1940s and chose to maintain the business on a small scale, being staunchly protective of her designs, and refusing to sell to large businesses such as Peter Jones.