Surface light - still-lifes and flowers by Sir William Nicholson

Begonias, 1939-40.

The Silver Casket and Red Leather Box, 1920.

The Black Pansy, 1910.

Pink Lustre Mug and Fan, 1909.

Pink Peonies, 1913.

Mushrooms, 1940.

The Lustre Bowl with Green Peas, 1911.

White Anemones, ND.

Glass and Fruit, 1938.

The Lowestoft Bowl, 1911.

Stocks and Silver, 1918.

Winter Anemones, 1927.

Mushrooms, 1927.

Flowers in a Vase, 1949.

Silver, 1938.

Still Life with White Freesias, 1917.

Double Anemones, 1921.

Miss Simpson's Boots, 1919.

 The Marquess of Wellington Jug, 1920.

The Lustre Bowl, 1911.

Flower Piece, 1949.

The Blue Gloves, circa 1923.

Pink Roses in a Silver Lustre Vase, 1913.

Books and Things, 1920.

Cyclamen, circa 1937.

A Staffordshire Group, 1909.

Lilies of the Valley, 1927.

Glass bowl, 1920.

The Silver Casket, 1919.

The Chinese Vase, 1911.

Gold Jug, 1937.

Glass Jug With Plates and Pears, circa 1930s.

The Lustre Bowl, 1908.

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The artist, by E. O. Hoppé, 1912.

Sir William Newzam Prior Nicholson (5 February 1872, Newark-on-Trent – 16 May 1949, Blewbury), British painter of still-lifes, landscapes, and portraits. He also worked as a printmaker, illustrator, author of children's books, and as a designer for the theater. Born the youngest son of an industrialist and Conservative MP, he had art lessons from the painter, politician, and art-master William Cubley, who had been a pupil of Sir William Beechey who had, in turn, been a pupil of Sir Joshua Reynolds. From the autumn of 1891 he attended the Académie Julian in Paris, but after six months returned home. In the spring of 1893, Nicholson eloped with Mabel Pryde, whom he had known for several years; they would have four children, the eldest being the celebrated painter Ben Nicholson. His wife died in July 1918 during the Spanish flu epidemic, and his second son, Anthony, died only three months later of wounds received in action during the concluding days of WWI. But, previously, from about 1910 until he remarried in 1919, his housekeeper, Marie Laquelle, was also his mistress. Then, in October 1919, he married Edith Minnie, daughter of Sir Lionel Phillips, first baronet who, under the name Elizabeth Drury, was also a painter. They had two sons and a daughter, and Edie had two children from her previous marriage. Nicholson's books for children all date from the 1920s, around which time he lived at the Old Manor House, Sutton Veny, Wiltshire. From 1935 until his death, his companion was the novelist Marguerite Steen. The artist had been separated from his second wife for some years, although they remained on good terms; though she promised to give him a divorce, she never did so. In later life, Nicholson lived at Blewbury in Berkshire (now Oxfordshire), where he died at the age of seventy-seven.

"Bloomsbury Family" (the painter Sir William Nicholson, his wife Mabel, and children), by Sir William Orpen, 1907.
(The artist appears to be wearing the same dressing gown as in the Hoppé portrait, above.)

Les deux déesses - two masterworks by Christian Dior, 1949

 

The Dior gowns for fall/winter 1949-50, Junon and Vénus, photographed at the Pré Catalan in Paris for Harper's Bazaar by Richard Avedon, August, 1949.

Junon, named after the Roman queen of the gods, Juno - the Greek Hera - the blue sequined embellishment a reference to Juno's sacred animal, the peacock.

Vénus, named after the Roman goddess of love - the Greek Aphrodite - the wavy, pearlescent spangles a reference to Venus' "nautical" birth. 

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Two more of Avedon's images, photographed at the Pré Catalan in the summer of 1949.

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As one might expect, the care and preservation of these iconic garments is quite challenging. Dust and dirt need to be carefully vacuumed from yards and yards of fragile, unwashable silk net, which is covered in thousands of sequins, paillettes, and beading that can only be cleaned by hand, individually, one at a time. And then loss of the embellishments is a great concern, as the aging thread that attaches sequins and the like eventually fails, and each fallen bit needs to be accounted for and reattached. All of this while putting the least amount of stress on extremely delicate fabric that is more than seventy-five years old.