13/08/24
Prydie: The Life and Art of Mabel Pryde Nicholson
The Grange Gallery, Rottingdean, Sussex
20 July – 26 August 2024
The Nicholson family has long been well-known in the world of the cultured middle-class, with its key figures comprising the artists William and (his son) Ben; William’s daughter Nancy, a staunch feminist, illustrator and designer, who was married to the poet Robert Graves; another of William’s sons, Kit, a successful architect; and Ben’s first and second wives, Winifred Nicholson and Barbara Hepworth. But are you familiar with Mabel Pryde Nicholson (1871-1918), William’s wife, mother to Ben, Tony, Nancy and Kit, and herself descending from generations of painters and engravers? I admit that I wasn’t. But, thanks to the writer and curator Lucy Davies, and the team at the Grange Gallery in Rottingdean, Sussex, where there is currently an exhibition of her portrait paintings, this has been remedied. The exhibition also coincides with the launch of the latest title in Eiderdown Books’ Modern Women Artists series, the first biography of “Prydie” (as Mabel was affectionately known), authored by Davies. As is true of all the Eiderdown titles, Davies’ is comprehensive, eminently readable (at fewer than 50 pages), and well illustrated. It makes a perfect partner to the exhibition, which is also well narrated through detailed but concise text panels, a couple of archival letters in Nicholson’s handwriting, and a large number of facsimile photographs taken from the private family album. The result is a truly charming exhibition, bringing a beautifully painted family album back to the place where many of the portraits were made (the Grange, a former vicarage, which is now a local library and art gallery, was home to William, Mabel and the children from 1909-14).
Read my full review here