Dear Winifred ...

Friend of Diaghilev, Cocteau and Picasso, Christopher Wood was a darling of the English modernist movement. He was a friend of Ben Nicholson and with him 'discovered' the primitive painter Alfred Wallis. His suicide at the age of 29 robbed the art world of a rising star. Wood's extensive correspondence with Winifred Nicholson forms one of the most important elements in an understanding of the man and his art during the last, and most productive years, of his brief life. With an intensity which matches the pace of work in his last four years, Wood's words present both an extraordinary self-portrait, and that of a deep and supportive friendship. Winifred's replies have sadly not survived, but the scope, honesty and freshness of Wood's writing clearly reflects the inestimable importance of both Winifred and Ben Nicholson to his life and art in the late 1920s.