Relative Ties

Relative Ties met en lumière le travail de trois générations de femmes artistes issuesde l’illustre famille Nicholson : Mabel Nicholson, Nancy Nicholson, EQ Nicholson etLouisa Creed ; et explore ce que nous héritons de nos mères, ce qui peut être transmispar les lignées matrilinéaires, et l’importance des fratries dans une pratique artistique.Il rassemble des croquis, des peintures, des dessins préparatoires, des textiles et despapiers peints, ainsi que des outils et des pochoirs utilisés par les artistes. Publié àl’occasion d’une exposition à la Women’s Art Collection, Murray Edwards College, àCambridge, le catalogue comprend également une nouvelle œuvre commissionnée parl’artiste contemporaine Katie Schwab (née en 1985).Together, the Nicholson women – Mabel, her daughter Nancy, daughter-in-law EQ,and EQ’s daughter Louisa Creed – form a celebrated line of artists working from thelate nineteenth century to the present day across a multiplicity of spaces, contextsand mediums, ranging from paintings and works on paper to wallpaper and fabric.Relative Ties traces the origins of these disciplines to Mabel’s theatrical portrait of theyoung Nancy as a harlequin, a painting that sits at the beginning of an ongoing familyfascination with interiors, pattern, costume and dress that would go on to shape thework of the Nicholson women across the generations.Prolific artists and fabric designers Nancy and EQ Nicholson, not only relatives butclose friends and collaborators, expressed their love for design through the explorationof art within domestic spaces, creating textile designs for artists such as BarbaraHepworth and family members such as brother Ben Nicholson. Through access toNancy Nicholson’s studio materials, Relative Ties allows a fresh glimpse into the toolsand techniques behind Nancy and EQ’s designs, including metal type and zinc stencils.The profound influence of the matrilineal line reaches the present day with thework of celebrated rag-rug maker Louisa Creed, daughter of EQ Nicholson, whoserenowned works are known for their sensitive colours and painterly form.In celebration of the legacy of the Nicholson women, Relative Ties concludes withan appreciation of new series of works by artist and practitioner Katie Schwab (b. 1985),commissioned as a response to the practices, materials and techniques of the artists inthe show.