In September 2012, Sarah Pickstone won the prestigious John Moores painting prize with Stevie Smith and the Willow, joining a roster of winners that includes Richard Hamilton, Peter Doig, Peter Blake and David Hockney.

The central figure of Pickstone's award-winning painting is based on a drawing by the poet Stevie Smith that was made to accompany her poem 'Not Waving but Drowning'. Philip Larkin said Smith was 'the authority on sadness', and the line drawing of an unsmiling figure, hair falling over her face and body, appears sad and unsettled.

Provenance

The artist.


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