Kay Nixon Indian Palm Squirrel on Magnolia Branch

An original mid-20th-century gouache painting, Kay Nixon, Indian Palm Squirrel on Magnolia Branch.

A wonderfully exuberant painting in gouache on canvas by the sought-after illustrator Kay Nixon (1894–1988). Nixon is admired for her wildlife paintings in a distinctive graphic style that evokes the aesthetic of Japanese prints. A prolific illustrator, she is particularly known for her work for Enid Blyton books.

Depicted here is a pair of Indian palm squirrels nestled amongst the pink and white blossom of a magnolia tree in full bloom. Nixon's distinctive style is seen in the defined outlines and close up patterning of flowers filling the picture plane. The subject points to an interesting period in the artist's life, when she was commissioned by the Oxford University Press in 1928 to travel to India and produce illustrations. Nixon went on to spend the next twenty-six years living in India, where her illustration commissions included posters for the Indian railways and the Bombay Natural History Society, and work for the Times of India and the Bombay Weekly.

In gouache on canvas laid down on board.