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Christopher WoodChristopher Wood, often called Kit Wood, was an English painter born in 1901 near Liverpool. While studying architecture at Liverpool University he was encouraged by Augustus John to become a painter and he subsequently trained in Paris, where he met Picasso, Diaghilev and Cocteau. On his return to England, he met Ben and Winifred Nicholson in 1926, and with them he joined the 7 and 5 Society and shared his first major exhibition at the Beaux Arts Gallery in 1927. The following year he painted with them in Cumberland and Cornwall.
Although initially influenced by European trends in contemporary art, he developed is own unique 'naive' style, depicting boats, seascapes, landscapes and people. After his tragic early death in 1930, exhibitions were held at the Wertheim Gallery in 1931and Lefevre Galleries in 1932. In 1938, Wood's paintings were included in the British pavilion at the Venice Biennale, and the same year a major exhibition was organised by the Redfern Gallery at the New Burlington Galleries, which attempted to re-unite Wood's complete works.
