Sybil Waller wrote in her unpublished memoir that, ‘Nicholson painted an interior portrait group of my father and myself; it was exhibited at the International Exhibition and called The Conder Room as it was painted in a room entirely hung with Conder pictures at our house in St George’s Road. A decorative panel by Conder formed a conspicuous part of the picture, before which my father was seated, while I stood beside him in a black and pink evening dress, my hand resting on our Scotch Terrier.’

Pickford Waller was a designer and decorator whose eponymous family firm was well known. He was a collector of Whistler, Beardsley and Shannon and a great enthusiast of the Australian artist Charles Conder. The panel at the back and the studies of fans on the side wall stayed in the family’s possession until the sale at Christie’s in 1973. The large work is now in the collection of the National Gallery of Australia.

The picture took six months to complete which Sybil Waller attributed to Nicholson having a nervous breakdown, although the artist was in fact in Rottingdean enjoying his new home and working on other projects.

We are most grateful to Patricia Reed for her help with this catalogue entry.