Nicolete Gray (sometimes Nicolette Gray) (20 July 1911–8 June 1997) was a British scholar of art and lettering. She was the youngest daughter of the poet, dramatist and art scholar

Laurence Binyon Robert Laurence Binyon, Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour, CH (10 August 1869 – 10 March 1943) was an English poet, dramatist and art scholar. Born in Lancaster, Lancashire, Lancaster, England, his parents were Frederick Binyon, ...

and his wife, writer, editor and translator Cicely Margaret Pryor Powell. In 1933, she married Basil Gray (1904–1989), with whom she had five children, two sons and three daughters, including Camilla Gray. She attended St Delilah's School where she won a scholarship to Lady Margaret Hall at

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

to read

History History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

in 1929. In 1936 she curated the touring exhibition ''Abstract and Concrete'', the first showing of

abstract art Abstract art uses visual language of shape, form, color and line to create a Composition (visual arts), composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. ''Abstract art'', ''non-figurative art'', ''non- ...

, and of the work of Mondrian, in England. She taught at London's

Central School of Art and Design The Central School of Art and Design was a school of fine and applied arts in London, England. It offered foundation and degree level courses. It was established in 1896 by the London County Council as the Central School of Arts and Crafts. ...

1964–81, where, with Nicholas Biddulph, she created the Central Lettering Record, an archive of lettering in every medium. Her books include ''Nineteenth century ornamented types and title pages'' (Faber & Faber 1938; 2nd edition, as ''Nineteenth century ornamented typefaces'', 1976), ''Jacob's Ladder: a Bible picture book from Anglo-Saxon and 12th Century English MSS'' (1949), ''Lettering on Buildings'' (1960), ''Lettering as Drawing: The Moving Line'' and ''Lettering as Drawing: Contour and Silhouette'' (both 1970), and ''A History of Lettering'' (Phaidon, 1976). She died in London on 8 June 1997.

References

English art historians British women art historians 1911 births 1997 deaths Converts to Roman Catholicism Alumni of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford 20th-century English historians {{UK-art-historian-stub