Every summer we make a family trip to the Cornish coast to escape and reinvigorate ourselves with the help of a soothing sea breeze. And with my second year at university creeping up on me slowly there couldn’t be a better time to unwind by the sea. We took the ferry to Falmouth from St Mawes to explore the town and stumbled across an exhibition of the work of Winifred Nicholson, wife of Ben Nicholson, another artist who had a profound impact on the St Ives School, and later married Barbara Hepworth.
Her work at first seemed simple, attractive and domestic, but upon further analysis it became clear that her subject matters and compositions were carefully constructed in order to achieve her desired aesthetic.
She was a mistress of colour, particularly with her flower still life compositions. She made colour the essence of her creativity, spending six decades exploring its potential and possibilities. Whilst painting in Lugano, Switzerland, she made the discovery – crucial to her sense of colour – that a spot of pink magenta placed near various hues of yellow brings the yellows out in vivid luminosity. She explored this technique throughout her career, and usually the pink magenta is the keynote in her paintings.
She successfully employs this technique in Bankshead Still Life of c.1928
Even in the backdrop of Bankshead Still Life, Nicholson juxtaposes magentas with yellows to create a sense of vitality and movement
Flower Table, 1928-29
Her travel enhanced her artistic exploration, and whilst the Second World War marked a hiatus in these endeavours she began to travel again as soon as it ended.
A bright and inspiring exhibition, the display of work by Nicholson drew parallels with the work of her friends such as Mondrian, particularly her more abstract work, as seen below in Outward and Inward of 1936.
My semi-nautical outfit (genuinely unintentional – think the sea air was getting to my head) consists of white shorts, a blue and white striped jumper, silver brogues and a white mac.
For a similar vibe team any bright top/jumper with white shorts or jeans – a couple of examples shown below. Quick tip – a splash of white in the jumper will make it work better with the bottom half and make the colours p o p even more. Also I just love coordination. Yummy.
Shop 1 at Urban Outfitters, 2 also at UO and 3 at Mango.
Similar silver brogues can be found at Zara, and for white macs (like my discontinued Henri Lloyd) check out House of Fraser and La Redoute.
See you soon!
Annie xox
The Cat, the Kitsch, and the Wardrobe 