After he was killed at the Battle of Passchendaele, Nancy and her three siblings were raised by their mother, Mona, in a large house containing the art and antiques that he had collected throughout his life.
Among the artists working there was Vladimir and Elizabeth Polunin who were producing and designing opera and ballet sets for the company.
Vladimir Polunin encouraged her to take the course he was teaching in stage design at the Slade and Carline returned to the art school.
[6] In the late 1930s both Nancy and Richard Carline were active in helping refugees from Nazi Germany settle in London and during the Second World War, she worked as an art teacher at a school in Purley,[2] while continuing to paint.
Nancy Carline exhibited regularly with the Royal Academy, the London Group during the 1930s and from 1957 to 1959,[9] the New English Art Club, the Artists' International Association,[10] and the Wildenstein Gallery in 1946.