Firm Friends

One of the defining characteristics of 20th Century British artists is the friendships they shared: thinking, studying, working and often exhibiting together.

Christopher Wood first met Ben Nicholson and his wife Winifred in London in 1926 and went on to spend the summer and early autumn in Cornwall with them where they dedicated themselves to painting. Under their influence he started to adopt a more experimental and unique style.

Winifred Nicholson used to send Christopher flowers in the post for him to paint. She is perhaps best remembered as the wife of Ben Nicholson – one of the pioneers of abstract art in Britain – and yet as a painter she is described as ‘the female Van Gogh’, imbuing her paintings, as we see here in Lily of the Valley, with colour, light and space.

Ivon Hitchens, a great friend of both Christopher Wood and Winifred Nicholson soon became part of the circle of artists which included Ben Nicholson, Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore and others during the 1930s. Whilst a close friend of the Nicholsons and Hepworth and Moore, Hitchens retained a very individual style – his bright use of colour and open brushwork closer to those of his French counterparts than the abstract works of his British companions.

Widely acknowleged as the most important British Sculptor of the 20th Century, Henry Moore focused on the human form throughout his career as we see here in Seated Family Group, a highly evocative pencil drawing full of expression and life. His work – from drawings to sculpture – reflect his British heritage with forms inspired by his native landscape alongside a deeper appreciation of non-western forms such as pre-Columbian art.