The Patricia Woods Collection

Patricia Woods (formerly Lyttelton, then Temple Muir) was born in London in 1929. In 1946 she began her studies at Camberwell School of Art, studying illustration. Camberwell in the post war period was a hotbed of talent and the epicentre of the Neo-Romantic group of artists. Patricia’s illustration tutors included John Minton, Keith Vaughan and Edward Ardizzone. Alumni of the time included Terry Frost, Gillian Ayers, Alan Caiger-Smith and scores of other notable figures. Also studying illustration at this time was the jazz trumpeter Humphrey Lyttelton, the two married in 1948. Patricia produced various magazine illustrations and book jackets throughout her career, latterly concentrating on architectural studies in pen and wash and commissions to paint and draw private houses. Her connection with Camberwell and the artists of her student period persisted and informed a growing collection of art, her wide circle of friends included Bernard Dunstan, Dodie Masterman, Philip Matthews, Michael Rothenstein, Richard Bawden and John Verney and many of the pictures in this collection are by close personal friends. In 1956 she married Dicky Temple Muir and moved to Essex, later settling in Framlingham, Bildeston and finally a Georgian town house in Friars Street Sudbury. Here she drew on her artistic skills to balance colour, form and texture, antique and modern furniture, ceramics and works of art and found objects to create a harmonious interior which beguiled anyone who saw it. This collection comprises the majority of items from Patricia’s estate, encompassing a lifetime of collecting and a particular artist’s eye for quality and originality. The lucky buyers of works from this sale will be purchasing paintings and objects imbued with personality.