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The Arts Intel Report

Prydie: The Life and Art of Mabel Pryde Nicholson

Mabel Pryde Nicholson, The Red Jersey, c. 1912.

July 20 – Aug 26, 2024
The Grn, Rottingdean, Brighton and Hove, Brighton BN2 7HA, United Kingdom

Mabel Pryde Nicholson, born in 1871, lived an Edwardian life shadowed by the men around her. Nicholson’s brother, James Ferrier Pryde, was a highly regarded artist who had the patronage of the Viscountess of Cowdray. Her husband was the still-life virtuoso William Nicholson. Her son Ben Nicholson became a towering figure of British abstract art, and son Kit was an architect. But Mabel had abundant talent too. All along, until she died in the flu epidemic of 1918, she produced portraits and landscape paintings. This exhibition, the first on the Nicholson matriarch in 100 years, takes the measure of Mabel’s art and life, and explores her connections with the artists and intellectuals of her time. —Elena Clavarino

Photo: Aberdeen Art Gallery