Gifted by Uglow to his friend and the future Slade Professor Patrick George, Daisy and Nudes is a truly exceptional work in his oeuvre, a revealing glimpse into both his working practices and his friendships with other artists. Uglow drew frequently, not as preparatory drawings but to get a feel for the model. Whilst she moved around his studio, he would sketch, assessing their compatibility and her commitment to the, as Uglow would readily admit, onerous task of sitting for him, as well as to gain an intimate understanding of her body. In Daisy and Nudes, Uglow has collaged together two drawings of the same female torso from different angles with a sketch of a daisy in the upper left. Put together for Patrick George, who also owned Standing Nude, 1954, Daisy and Nudes is another example of works of art being exchanged as the materialisation of a constant exchange of ideas occurring between generations of artists linked through art schools – the Euston Road School, Camberwell, and the Slade - and, in particular, the administrative and creative influence of William Coldstream.

Daisies, and other flowers, repeatedly appeared in Uglow’s work and in Coldstream’s including Still Life with Daisy, 1931. Uglow was very discerning in his choice of subject matter: though he sought to challenge perception, he set the scenes through which to enact this investigation. His project could not encompass the visible world and a narrow range of subjects permitted specificity. The transience of a daisy, its brief lifespan of bud, bloom and decay, perfectly aligned with Uglow’s fascination with the passage of time, an obsession writ into the surface of his paintings as he notched new observations each day he returned to his easel. In Daisy and Nudes, a perfect daisy is depicted, each petal carefully delineated. To the right and below the daisy, Uglow has positioned two drawings of a female model, focused on torso and thighs, seen from face-on and angled to the left. These are worked up drawings, mottled with measuring marks cementing the sculptural solidity of her body, fixed into position with heavily drawn contours. Uglow maintained that his work was ‘personal research’ and art the by-product. Daisy and Nudes reveals the accomplished draughtsmanship, the product of rigorous artistic training, that facilitated his investigative project and its transformation of post-war figurative painting, including the historical genres of flower paintings and the nude.