WINIFRED NICHOLSON | Kate at Alerta

Kate at Alerta, which depicts Winifred’s daughter picking flowers in a Mediterranean meadow, was painted while Winifred was staying with her friends René and Alison Leplat’s at their Villa Alerta near Cannes. In a letter home from March 1936 she wrote about painting nine pictures there: “I like the colours of things here, the indescribable blue of the heavens, the brown mountains the blue hazy mountains the mysterious shimmer grey of the olives the deep green of the pines, make true colours against which white is so beautiful one cannot think of anything more beautiful”. For other paintings made at Alerta see René’s Room (Leeds Museums and Galleries) and Villa Alerta, Near Cannes, sold in these rooms, 4th July 2001, lot 171 and for a photograph of the Villa Alerta, see Judith Collins, Tate, 1987, p.36.The first owner of the present work was the writer Richard Hughes, author of the world's first radio play and most well known for his novel A High Wind in Jamaica (1929).We are grateful to Jovan Nicholson for his kind assistance with the cataloguing of the present work and compiling the above note.

Acquired directly from the Artist by Richard Hughes and thence by descent to the present owner

The canvas is original. There appear to be some very minor undulations to the canvas in places. There are a small number of areas with very fine lines of cracking, including to the tree trunks to the right with some associated loss, to the doll with lifting to her bonnet and red dress, to the blue pigment in the house, and to the centre of the extreme lower edge, with one or two possible further instances. There are further minor flecks of loss to the sky in the upper right, to the girl's chin, towards the upper and lower left and lower right corners, and to the centre of the left edge, with one or two possible further instances elsewhere. There is also some very minor frame abrasion to the lower right edge, consistent with where the work appears to be very slightly loose in the frame. There is some rubbing to the raised areas of impasto in the trees. Inspection under ultraviolet light reveals no obvious signs of fluorescence or retouching. The work is held behind glass in a caved wooden frame. Please telephone the department on +44 (0) 207 293 6424 if you have any questions regarding the present work.
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