Quarante Huit Quai d’Auteuil 1935

Winifred Nicholson made ‘Quarante Huit Quai d’Auteuil’ with oil on board. Looking at it now, I imagine her in the studio, squinting to assess the balance between the shapes in the composition. There’s a calm stillness, a muted palette dominated by soft greys, whites and yellows. The painting is made up of basic geometric shapes: two circles sitting side by side. A square sits in the middle of the left circle, two triangles fill the upper right quadrant of the circle on the right. I wonder if Nicholson was thinking about the ways she could use geometry and abstraction to evoke something natural. The slight imperfections in the lines add a human touch to the painting. When I look at this piece, I think about the work of Agnes Martin, but also, I see an echo of Nicholson’s father, who was also a painter. Painting is a conversation between artists across time, and I’m sure Nicholson was deeply aware of this tradition. Painting is a form of embodied expression which embraces ambiguity and uncertainty, allowing for multiple readings.