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