Former binman and school caretaker Michael Woodford was, by all accounts, a modest man, but when curators from Chichester’s Pallant House Gallery visited his home in Kent, they found a former council-owned maisonette crammed with etchings, linocuts and watercolours by some of the biggest names of the 20th century. Woodford died last year and left most of his collection to the gallery, describing it as “a bequest by a minor collector (not a rich rock star!) collected through love and when finance permitted”. The bequest includes a linocut of a nude by Matisse (Pasiphaie, 1943-44) and a lithograph by Picasso (Le 03.11.59 Matador, 1959). A selection of the works is now on display at the gallery (until 28 February).
