Nicola Wood’s work bridges the visual and cultural shifts of the mid-20th century. Known for her pioneering style and vivid contributions to textile design, Wood’s abstract paintings resonate with a deep commitment to colour and form. Through this exhibition, Messums seeks to highlight Wood’s unique contribution to visual culture and her enduring influence on both fine art and design. This collection draws together seminal works from Wood’s career, particularly emphasising the synergy between her abstract practice and her textile designs, showcasing her painting and its vital importance to her design practice. Nicola Wood’s art defies easy categorisation, drawing from classical training in observational drawing and an in-depth understanding of colour theory. Her exploration of pattern, rhythm, and tone, alongside an intuitive grasp of design, saw her gain early recognition as a talent to watch in the early 1960s. In bringing together her key works, Messums reveals a painter whose career remains as relevant to design and fashion as it does to the canon of abstract art.
Born in Crosby, Lancashire, in 1936, Wood’s extraordinary talent for drawing was spotted by her teachers when she was aged just 10. After studying at Southport School of Art and Manchester College of Art, where she was steered away from the painting department due to her gender, graduating instead with a First Class Honours in Textile Design, Wood progressed to the Royal College of Art in London in 1957, and was part of a new generation of creatives, including the fashion designer Dame Zandra Rhodes, and artists Derek Boshier, Pauline Boty, Patrick Caulfield and David Hockney. Wood’s abstract practice is rooted in her classical art education, based on observational life drawing and the study of painting techniques.
After receiving a Fulbright Scholarship to Parsons School of Art in New York, Wood began to develop her abstract practice, influenced by the American Abstract Expressionists whom she had first seen in print form in the book ‘Art Since 1945’ (1958), edited by Milton S. Fox. Her sophisticated utilisation of pattern and deeply intuitive understanding of colour theory resulted in her quickly being recognised as an outstanding talent in the early 1960s, and she began to design book covers and advertisements for the New York Times. When she returned to the UK in 1964, she was asked to create fabrics for major design houses including Biba, Liberty and Heal’s, as well as the German firm, Rasch Textile; all the while, continuing to further her painting practice – one side of her work influencing the other, and vice versa.
Through her art, Wood has an impact similar to that of her peers with the glorious visual language of her generation. Fashion and design are an integral part of the building of individual identity and Wood’s contribution to popular culture in the 1960s and 1970s, and our lasting image of those decades is now receiving a critical attention. However, her standalone painting career and its vital importance to her design practice remains largely ignored – an oversight which Messums seeks to address through new research and the bringing together of some of Wood’s key works from the 1950s to the late 1970s in this exhibition. Wood’s legacy lies not only in the remarkable body of work she has created but also in the example she sets for future generations to stay true to their vision.
