William Nichols: Landscape Paintings

William N ichols

Landscape Pa i n t i n g s

William Nichols AMERICAN BORN 1942

“As a young painter, I saw the landscape for its potential as both a conveyor of visual beauty and a messenger of meaningful experience. The difficulty was defining what was special about it for me and then finding a way of orchestrating the visual vocabulary to meet what I was seeing and feeling. The conclusions I came up with were, I think, largely intuitive and it is only over a number of years that I have come to understand more fully what those qualities were and what they mean to me.

From the beginning, I knew that I did not want to just reinvent what others had already done in landscape painting and sensed that a good deal of the intimacy (and sometimes intimidation) I felt about nature was its density and beauty close up. I thought that through the increased scale of the canvas and treating the surface almost as a watercolor, I might be able to get closer to that sensation. Also, I felt that by developing the surfaces with more gestural brush strokes, I could mirror the organic nature of the subject itself.

I would often take hundreds of photographs and visit a location numerous times to both understand it and find that special something that had the content I was after, as well as the visual architecture necessary to reflect it. One thing I thought about, for instance, was that since viewing art is often like reading a book, from left to right, did I want the viewer to be walking into the shadows or out of them? This small decision could create a change in the experience of the subject and its meaning.

When I began painting, like so many artists my age, I was interested in abstract expressionism and then other movements that were popular. It was only later that I started to paint the landscape, not a very “cutting edge” involvement in the 1970’s. It was a number of years before I understood the connection between this interest and times spent as a young boy in upper Wisconsin and the enduring memories of hiking, fishing and exploring that I did by myself.”

-William Nichols

4

Sunlight and Shadows

Oil on linen

48 x 48 inches

6

Sundance Aspens

Oil on linen

57

1/2

x 74 inches

8

Fish Creek

Oil on linen

53 x 66 inches

10

A Frosting of Snow

Oil on linen

64 x 74 inches

12

Hidden Pond - Door County

Oil on linen

44 x 68 inches

14

Grape Leaves and Orange Lilies

Oil on linen

49 x 77 inches

16

Early Evening Abstraction

Oil on linen

48 x 60 inches

18

Winter Mountain Aspens

Oil on linen

56 x 72 inches

20

Wild Summer Grapes

Oil on linen

46 x 60 inches

22

Overgrown Garden

Oil on linen

62 x 68 inches

24

Saratoga Slow Stream

Oil on panel

36 x 48

1/2

inches

26

January Freeze

Oil on linen

46 x 58 inches

28

Wild Garden

Oil on linen

54 x 38 inches

30

Wild Lilies

Oil on linen

30 x 38 inches

32

Natural Dam

Oil on linen

46

1/2

x 67 inches

34

Saratoga Stream

Oil on linen

43 x 48 inches

36

Fallen Branches on Bradley Creek

Oil on linen

36 x 38 inches

38

Fall Evening

Oil on linen

26 x 34 inches

40

Gardens at Giverny

Watercolor on paper

23 x 40 inches

42

Reflection

Watercolor on paper

29

1/2

x 41 inches

44

Frozen Creek Cedaburg (study)

Oil on linen

8 x 16 inches

46

Fallen Trees (study)

Oil on linen

8 x 16 inches

William Nichols Born: Resides:

April 1, 1942; Chicago, IL Chicago, IL

Education: 1968-69

1968 1968

1966 1961-66

Slade School of Art, University College, London, England; post­ graduate work University of Illinois, Urbana, IL; M.F.A. Slade School of Art, University College, London, England; Fulbright- Hayes Scholar School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL; B.F.A. University of Chicago (in conjunction with the School of the Art Institute of Chicago) Chicago, IL

Select Group Exhibitions: 2007-2009

2001-02

1999

1997 1994 1994

1992

1988 1988

1988

1987

1987

1987 1987

Participating in Art In Embassy Program, United States State Department, Prague, Czechoslovakia Rain Forest: Contemporary Paintings by International Artists, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; Taipei Gallery, New York, NY; Green Woods & Crystal Waters: The American Landscape Tradition, Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, OK; traveling to: Davenport Museum of Art, Davenport, IA; John & Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, FL Christine Adapon Fine Art, Manila, Philippines Collectors’ Choice, Center for the Arts, Vero Beach, FL Young Guns: East Coast Artists, Nevada Institute for Contemporary Art, Las Vegas, NV A View From Here: Heartland Landscape Painters, McLean County Arts Center, Bloomington, IL 100 Years of Wisconsin Art, Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee,WI American Realism: Twentieth Century Drawings and Watercolors: The Glenn C. Janss Collection, Boise Art Museum, Boise, ID Realisms, Fine Arts Galleries, UNM Art Museum, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI The Hot Centre: Contemporary Art Selected By Ivan Karp, Norton Center for the Arts, Centre College, Danville, KY Fifty-First National Midyear Exhibition, Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH Director’s Choice, Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa, FL Lower Manhattan Revisited: SoHo NoHo. and Tribeca, Maier Museum

1887

1985-87

1985 1985

1984 1984

1982 1982 1981-82

1981 1979 1975 1974

of Art, Randolph-Macon Women’s College, Lynchburg, VA Mainstream America: The Collection of Phil Desind, The Butler Institute of American Art,Youngstown, OH American Realism: Twentieth Century Drawings and Watercolors from the Glenn C. Janss Collection, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA; traveling exhibition Midwest Realists, Paine Art Center & Arboretum, Oshkosh, WI Focus on Realism: Selections from the Collection of Glenn C. Janss, Boise Gallery of Art, Boise, ID Wisconsin Directions 4, Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI American Landscape Painting, Fine Arts Gallery, California State University, Los Angeles, CA Watercolor U.S.A., Springfield Art Museum, Springfield, MO Painterly Realism, Rahr-West Museum, Manitowoc, WI Contemporary American Realism Since 1960, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA; traveling to: Gulbenkian Museum,

Lisbon, Portugal; Salas de Exposciones, Madrid, Spain; Kunsthalle, Nurenberg, West Germany Contemporary American Landscapes, Taft Museum, Cincinnati, OH Photo Realism, Jorgensen Gallery, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT Three Man Show, Hyde Park Center, Chicago, IL Midwest Invitational Painting Show, Chicago, IL

Solo Exhibitions: 2015 2010 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2001 2000 2000 1998 1997 1994 1991 1991 1989

CK Contemporary, San Francisco, CA Thomas Paul Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA Tory Folliard Gallery, Milwaukee, WI Allyn Gallup Contemporary Art, Sarasota, FL Mason Murer Gallery, Atlanta, GA Tory Folliard Gallery, Milwaukee, WI Robert Kidd Gallery, Birmingham, MI O.K. Harris Works of Art, New York, NY O.K. Harris Works of Art, New York, NY Harmon-Meek Gallery, Naples, FL Robert Kidd Gallery, Birmingham, MI Robert Kidd Gallery, Birmingham, MI O.K. Harris Works of Art, New York, NY O.K. Harris Works of Art, New York, NY O.K. Harris Works of Art, New York, NY Michael Lord Gallery, Milwaukee, WI Michael Lord Gallery, Milwaukee, WI

1989 1986 1985 1983 1981 1979 1977

O.K. Harris Works of Art, New York, NY O.K. Harris Works of Art, New York, NY O.K. Harris Works of Art, New York, NY O.K. Harris works of Art, New York, NY O.K. Harris Works of Art, New York, NY O.K. Harris Works of Art, New York, NY James Yu Gallery, New York, NY

Bibliography: Books/Catalogues New York, Of Course, Ralph Hermanns, Wetterling Gallery, Stockholm, Sweden, 2007 Rain Forest: Contemporary Paintings by International Artists, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; Taipei Gallery, New York, NY; Las Vegas Art Museum, Las Vegas, NV; Foreword: Tchen, Yu-chiou, 2001.

Green Woods & Crystal Waters: The American Landscape Tradition, Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, OK; John Arthur, 1999.

The Artist and the American Landscape, Text: John Driscoll, Picture Editor: Arnold Skolnick, First Glance Books, Cobb, CA, 1998.

Forces Of Nature, Taipei Gallery, New York, NY; Introduction:Ronny Cohen, 1997 A View From Here: Heartland Landscape Painters, McLean County Arts Center, Bloomington, IL; Curator’s Statement: Harold Gregor, 1992.

Spirit of Place: Contemporary Landscape Painting and The American Tradition, John Arthur, 1989.

Realisms, Fine Arts Galleries, UWM Art Museum, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI; Introduction: John N. Colt, 1988.

Fifty-First National Midyear Exhibition, Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Op, 1987 Mainstream America: The Collection of Phil Desind, The Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH; Introduction: Louis Zona, 1987.

American Realism: Twentieth-Century Drawings and Watercolors from the Glenn C. Janss Collection, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Text: Alvin Martin; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art/Harry N. Abrams Publishers, New York, 1985.

American Landscape Painting, Fine Arts Gallery, California State University, Los Angeles, CA; Essay: Mac McCloud, 1984.

Contemporary American Realism Since 1960, Frank Goodyear, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA, 1981.

An American Flower Show, J. Frederick Cain, Heritage Plantation, Sandwich, MA, 1980.

Watercolors 1980, Frumkin & Struve Gallery, Chicago, IL; 1980.Bibliography: Periodicals Milwaukee Magazine, “Magnificent Obsession”, January 2006 American Arts Quarterly, “Exhibition Review”, Summer 2005 Arts Magazine, “William A. Nichols”, Catherine Lamagna, September 1979.

Art International, “Reviews”, Carter Ratcliff, May/June 1977.

Bibliography: Newspapers The Capital Times, (Madison, WI), “This art’s for real, and easy for the eye”, Kevin Lynch, April 28, 1994.

The News and Daily Advance, (Lynchburg, VA) “Contemporary art focus of R-MWC’s annual show”, March 15, 1987.

Detroit News, “New Realism wins with it’s eye appeal”, Joy Halkanson Colby, December 23, 1984, p.4E. Art/World, “SoHo and The Realist Revolution”, Nike Hale, May/June 18, 1979.

SoHo Weekly News, “Reviews”, John Perreault, September 25, 1975.

Selected Collections: Museum of New Art, Pontiac, MI Rahr West Museum, Manitowoc, WI Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, New York, NY Chase Manhattan Corporation, New York, NY Amerada Hess Corporation, Woodbridge, NJ Enpro International, New York, NY Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH Erie Art Museum, Erie, PA Security Pacific National Bank, Irwin, CA Fukuoka Sogo Bank, Ltd., Fukuoka, Japan and New York, NY Arbor Drugs, Troy, MI E. Jean Belloni, Geneva, Switzerland Alfred Taubman, Troy, MI Saul Steinberg, New York, NY Glenn Janss, Sun Valley, ID

CK Contemporary