Winifred Nicholson (British, 1893-1981) Candlemas I indistinctly signed, titled and dated 'Candlemas I/Winifred Nicholson/1951' (verso) oil on board 60.8 x 61.2 cm. (24 x 24 1/8 in.) Footnotes: Provenance Helen Beguin Sale; Phillips, London, 5 November 1991, lot 49 Private Collection, U.K. Exhibited London, Lefevre Gallery, Winifred Nicholson, February 1952 Possibly London, Leicester Galleries, Recent paintings by Winifred Nicholson, February 1954, no.3 Glasgow, Third Eye Centre, Winifred Nicholson: Paintings 1900-1978, 1979, no.45; this exhibition travelled to Edinburgh, The Scottish Arts Council Gallery, September 1979, Carlisle Art Gallery, November, Newcastle, Hatton Gallery, January 1980, Colchester, The Minories, February, St Ives, Penwith Society of Arts, March London, Tate Gallery, Winifred Nicholson, 3 June-2 August 1987, cat.no.37 Literature Winifred Nicholson, Flower Tales - Winifred Nicholson, LYC Press, Cumbria, 1976 Winifred Nicholson: Paintings 1900-1978, Third Eye Centre, Glasgow, 1979, no.45 Andrew Nicholson, Unknown Colour: Paintings, Letters, Writings by Winifred Nicholson, Faber & Faber, London, 1987, p.217 John Lane, The Living Tree: Art and the Sacred, Green Books, Devon, 1988, p.142 (ill.b&w.) Christopher Andreae, Winifred Nicholson, Lund Humphries, Farnham, 2009, p.169 Candlemas I expresses one of Winifred Nicholson's most consistent themes with its expectation of spring about to arrive. At about the same time that this painting was made she wrote, 'I like promise of things to come. There always turns out such unexpected and exciting things in the colourlessness of the unknown future'. Candlemas is celebrated 2nd February and as the painting was almost certainly painted at Boothby, Cumberland, Winifred's father's house, and where she had been living since the beginning of the second world war, the hyacinth bulbs were most likely grown by Winifred herself. Another consistent theme in Winifred's painting is what she describes as 'the opposition of light and dark', here seen in the juxtaposition of the white flowers against the deep midnight blue of a frosty wintery night. In her article 'I Like To Have A Picture In My Room' Winifred wrote, 'Colour is one of the surest ways of expressing joy – the joy that resides in a happy home. If the colours be welded scientifically, they can glow – even make luminosity in the even light of an interior; and added to this light my picture must have recesses with itself, a flower bud or a distinct prospect, expressing the secret within all that is true'. Helen Beguin was a close friend of Winifred's. Originally secretary to Winifred's father, Charles Roberts, latterly she lived at the Chris House, Boothby, where she enjoyed her garden and made pots, many of which Winifred owned. See Helen's Bunch in Helen's Pot (1974) (Winifred Nicholson in Cumberland, Abbot Hall, 2016, p. 74). We are grateful to Jovan Nicholson for compiling this catalogue entry. This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: AR AR Goods subject to Artists Resale Right Additional Premium. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com