Live Auction 21949Modern British and Irish Art Day Sale
WINIFRED NICHOLSON (1893-1981)
Lot 232 PROPERTY FROM A DISTINGUISHED BRITISH COLLECTION

WINIFRED NICHOLSON (1893-1981)

Lilies in Moonlight

Closed22 March 2023

Estimate

GBP 30,000–50,000

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WINIFRED NICHOLSON (1893-1981)
Lilies in Moonlight
signed and dated 'Winifred Nicholson 1930' (on the stretcher)
oil on canvas
25 x 30 in. (63.5 x 76.2 cm.)
Painted in 1930.

Purchased by a private collector at the 1930 exhibition.
Purchased by the Toledo Museum of Art at the 1950 exhibition.
Their sale; Sotheby's, London, 4 June 2003, lot 26, as 'Lilies and Moonlight'.
with Richard Green, London, where purchased by the present owner in December 2004.

Specialist note

Dating to 1930, it is likely that Lilies in Moonlight was painted at Winifred Nicholson's home, Bankshead, Cumberland. In March that year, P.G. Konody praised the painting in an article titled 'Berthe Morisot and Winifred Nicholson': ‘The entrancing still life entitled Lilies in Moonlight is a picture which in itself would suffice to establish a great artistic reputation, and which should find a home in a public gallery. ... Personally I have no doubt how Winifred Nicholson will be regarded in twenty or thirty years hence’ (op. cit.). In 1950 it was acquired by the Toledo Museum of Art, where it remained until 2003.

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