EXHIBITION. Relative Ties: Mabel Nicholson, Nancy Nicholson, EQ Nicholson and Louisa Creed. The Women’s Art Collection, Murray Edwards College, Cambridge. (2026. March 6 to Sept. 6)

EQ at work on a batik bedspread c.1932, photographed by Kit in their flat in Chelsea Embankment.

The palette on the wall belonged to Mabel Pryde, Kit's mother

The exhibition 'Relative Ties' will explore the work of three generations of women artists from the illustrious Nicholson family, from the early twentieth century to today. Featuring paintings, wallpaper, fabrics, rugs, stencils and works on paper – many of which have never been on public display. The exhibition will unite works by Mabel Nicholson, Nancy Nicholson, EQ Nicholson and Louisa Creed. Tracing the influence between these women, the exhibition will reveal how creative legacies are inherited through matrilineal lines and will be accompanied by a new commission by artist Katie Schwab.

The exhibition will begin with Mabel Pryde Nicholson (1871–1918), an artist whose atmospheric domestic paintings capture quiet and tender figures. She frequently painted her children in striking, theatrical costumes. Opening the show will be a portrait of her daughter, Nancy Nicholson (1899–1977) – also the daughter of fellow artist William Nicholson – dressed in a harlequin costume. As a family closely connected to the London theatre scene, the allure of fabric, costume and dress persisted in Nancy's practice, and in 1929 she founded the textile printing and design company, Poulk Press.

From an early age, Nancy was marked by a resolute spirit, deeply attuned to justice and equality. At the age of 14, Nancy submitted a design for the front cover of Vogue but was incensed when only issued with half the fee due to being a minor, likely a result of Mabel’s insistence on paying her children fairly to sit for portraits. After her marriage to the writer Robert Graves in 1918, she refused to take his name and ensured the same for her daughters. Under the auspices of the Poulk Press, Nancy designed and printed fabrics (for her brother Ben Nicholson for a period of 30 years, as well as the designer John Fowler) that featured unicorns and ducks, as well as the flora and fauna that surrounded her homes in Oxfordshire and Wiltshire, against a wallpaper-like patterned background. On display will be Nancy’s bespoke letter press letterheads for Ben Nicholson and Barbara Hepworth, book plates, stationery and collections of poetry, as well as her interiors designs for Laugharne Castle in Wales. Auntie’s Skirts, The End (1918), a painting by Nancy possibly depicting her aunt Nettie Pryde in a billowing gingham dress, will also be featured. Nancy’s painting was rarely exhibited during her lifetime or promoted outside of her tight network of family and friends, the exhibition will mark the first time works from across her career have been displayed. In 1945, Nancy established a shop in Belgravia with the help of her sister-in-law, the artist and designer EQ Nicholson (1908–1992).

EQ Nicholson Irises c.1951 © Estate of EQ Nicholson

EQ descended from a glittering family of women. Her grandmother was the photographer Eveleen Myers (1856–1937) and her mother, Elise Palmer (1873–1955), was an American heiress who sat for John Singer Sargeant. She trained for ashort period with the American designer Marion Dorn in Paris, before practising textile designfor furnishings and fabrics. Collaborating with her architect husband Kit, EQ also worked on interior design projects, including the London Gliding Club in Dunstable Downs, Bedfordshire. However, at the start of the Second World War, these projects waned and she began producing collages and paintings of domestic interiors, botanical studies and landscapes. 'Relative Ties' will feature EQ’s works on paper, paintings and textile designs. At the heart of 'Relative Ties' will be a celebration of creative process, technique and handiwork. Offering insight into the artistry behind Nancy's designs, the exhibition will feature her original lino blocks, stencils, and tools. Whilst Nancy firmly resisted offers to mass-produce her designs, believing that doing so would compromise their handmade quality, EQ's workwas commercially reproduced by Edinburgh Weavers (and printed by Nancy), as well as by Cole and Son and Borderline. Though EQ embraced mechanical reproduction, her creative process remained grounded in the manual: all her designs originated from detailed preparatory sketches, and her Runner Bean wallpaper was painstakingly hand-painted. In recognition of her artistry, Hugh Casson selected Runner Bean in 1950 for the furnishing fabrics aboard the Royal Yacht Britannia.

Continuing the legacy of creative practice across generations, the exhibition will also showcase rag rugs by EQ's daughter, Louisa Creed (b. 1937), who has spent the last thirty years crafting extraordinary textile works by hand. In their patchwork of materials and hues, the artist’s rugs capture a tangible presence. In 2004, Creed’s Hunting Cat (2004) was donated to The Women’s Art Collection, together with a collage by EQ, Jugs and Quinces (1946). A new commission by artist Katie Schwab will accompany the exhibition, comprising a sculpted mobile referencing a drawing of her young son, a calendar tea towel made from a newly fashioned alphabet of ribbons, and an embossed print of a ribbon spiral. Ribbons, a recurring motif in Nancy’s work – including designs such as Bunch (1932) – will be a central visual and conceptual thread throughout the exhibition. Schwab's research-led practice often begins with textiles which may be woven, stitched, machine-produced or handmade.

From this material foundation, she investigates the intersections of personal memory and craft history. Seen alongside the work of Mabel, Nancy, EQ and Louisa Creed, Schwab’s commission further reflects on intergenerational transmission – what we inherit from our mothers, how we collaborate with our siblings, and what is passed on to our daughters. The exhibition is curated by Harriet Loffler, Curator of The Women’s Art Collection. A fully illustrated publication will accompany the exhibition with contributions by Tim Nicholson, Harriet Loffler, Jes Fernie and Katie Schwab published by Paul Holberton Publishing.

Supporters

FAMM / Christian Levett / Calliope Arts Foundation / Jigsaw Foundation / Wimhurst Muller Trust / Porthmeor Studios

About The Women’s Art Collection

The Women’s Art Collection is Europe’s largest collection of art by women. It includes 600 works by leading artists such as Barbara Hepworth, Paula Rego, Lubaina Himid, Faith Ringgold and Tracey Emin. The Collection is displayed throughout Murray Edwards College, an iconic Brutalist building designed by Chamberlin, Powell and Bon as a manifesto for women’s education. We stage two exhibitions a year, alongside a dynamic programme of events. Accredited by Arts Council England, the Collection functions as a living museum free to enter and open daily.