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Lot Essay
Wood first met the painters Ben and Winifred Nicholson in London during the summer of 1926. In both artists he found like-minded individuals who inspired him creatively and spiritually. In Winifred in particular he found his soul-mate. Their relationship was so close that Winifred later remarked to Frosca Munster, Wood's Russian emigrée mistress, that she often dreamed of the pictures that Wood painted and the words that he would be writing in a letter.
She also maintained that she stayed in touch with him, even after his early death. Richard Ingleby remarks of his special relationship, 'Winifred's link to Wood was colour ... Their paintings came closest in their depiction of flowers. Sometimes, these were formal arrangements, but they were both at their best with bunches of wild flowers arranged haphazardly in a mug, jug or a glass. Wood does not seem to have painted any pictures while staying at Bankshead [Winifred's home], at least none that have survived, but he watched Winifred painting hers and when he returned to Paris in April [1928] they were much in his mind and he asked her to send him bunches of spring flowers in the post' (Christopher Wood An English Painter, London, 1995, p. 184).
She also maintained that she stayed in touch with him, even after his early death. Richard Ingleby remarks of his special relationship, 'Winifred's link to Wood was colour ... Their paintings came closest in their depiction of flowers. Sometimes, these were formal arrangements, but they were both at their best with bunches of wild flowers arranged haphazardly in a mug, jug or a glass. Wood does not seem to have painted any pictures while staying at Bankshead [Winifred's home], at least none that have survived, but he watched Winifred painting hers and when he returned to Paris in April [1928] they were much in his mind and he asked her to send him bunches of spring flowers in the post' (Christopher Wood An English Painter, London, 1995, p. 184).