1890s Lithograph after William Nicholson’s woodcut, portrait, framed antique art

Sir William Nicholson (1872–1949), Barmaid (Any Bar), 1898, original colour lithograph after Nicholson’s woodcut design, from the celebrated London Types series published by William Heinemann, presented under glass in a timber frame. The image epitomises Nicholson’s striking fin-de-siècle graphic style, using emphatic black silhouettes and a restrained ochre palette to transform an everyday London barmaid into an elegant, almost poster-like study of modern urban life. The Cleveland Museum of Art records Barmaid as an 1898 colour lithograph, while the broader London Types series documented recognisable figures of contemporary London. 

45cm x 40cm frame

25cm x 22cm artwork 

Artist biography: Sir William Newzam Prior Nicholson was born in Newark-on-Trent in 1872 and became one of Britain’s most important turn-of-the-century painters, printmakers and illustrators. Early in his career he worked with James Pryde as the Beggarstaff Brothers, producing boldly simplified poster designs that were highly influential on modern graphic art. Nicholson’s individual prints similarly employed strong silhouettes, economical drawing and flat areas of colour, qualities seen to particular effect in series such as An Alphabet, An Almanac of Twelve Sports and London Types. After 1900 he increasingly concentrated on painting, establishing a distinguished reputation for portraits, still lifes and landscapes, and he was knighted in 1936. London Types was published in 1898 and included subjects such as the Guardsman, Hawker, Flower Girl and Barmaid, with verses by W. E. Henley.