In describing Davidson to Penelope Little in 2001, Christian Gard, Conrad Kickert's grandson, said, 'She was all harmony. She was like her interiors: the hand is firm, the touch bold, but the interiors are harmonious with good, comfortable armchairs.' (P. Little, A Studio in Montparnasse, Bessie Davidson: An Australian artist in Paris, Melbourne, 2003, p.167)

Lots 19-21 are from the collection of Conrad Kickert (1882-1965). Bessie Davidson met Conrad Kickert in 1925 when the Dutch artist and his wife moved into the apartment across from Davidson’s at 18 rue Boissonade in Montparnasse. Both expatriates in Paris, they soon became close friends and after the death of Conrad’s wife Géraldine in 1936, Davidson was to become a mother figure to Anne Kickert who was only ten at the time of her mother’s death. She was to remain part of their family for her lifetime, present at the wedding of Anne to Lucien Gard following the war, and then as a surrogate grandmother to the four Gard children.