Biography

Elsie Queen (E.Q.) Nicholson was a painter and textile designer born in London. Nicholson briefly studied at Slade School of Fine Art in London under painter Henry Tonks, before leaving for Paris in 1926 to study batik, a textile design technique. She worked in batik as an assistant to textile designer Marion Dorn, and later worked as an interior designer, creating designs which were produced as wallpaper and screenprints. From about 1941 to 1956 Nicholson concentrated on her work as an artist. She painted, created works with crayon and collage, and exhibited at the Hanover Gallery, London. She married architect Christopher “Kit” Nicholson, son of painters William Nicholson and Mabel Pryde. They lived at Cranborne Chase in Dorest where E.Q remained with their three children following Kit's death in 1948.