L a n d s c a p e p a i n t i n g s

WiLLiam nichoLs

William NicholsAMERICAN 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 vocab-ulary 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 under-stand 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 water-color, 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 expres-sionism 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

Sunlight and Shadows Oil on linen 48 x 48 inches4

6 Sundance Aspens Oil on linen 57 1/2 x 74 inches

Fish Creek Oil on linen 53 x 66 inches8

10 A Frosting of Snow Oil on linen 64 x 74 inches

Hidden Pond - Door County Oil on linen 44 x 68 inches12

14 Grape Leaves and Orange Lilies Oil on linen 49 x 77 inches

16 Early Evening Abstraction Oil on linen 48 x 60 inches

Winter Mountain Aspens Oil on linen 56 x 72 inches18

20 Wild Summer Grapes Oil on linen 46 x 60 inches

Overgrown Garden Oil on linen 62 x 68 inches22

Saratoga Slow Stream Oil on panel 36 x 48 1/2 inches24

26 January Freeze Oil on linen 46 x 58 inches

28 Wild Garden Oil on linen 54 x 38 inches

Wild Lilies Oil on linen 30 x 38 inches30

Natural Dam Oil on linen 46 1/2 x 67 inches32

34 Saratoga Stream Oil on linen 43 x 48 inches

36 Fallen Branches on Bradley Creek Oil on linen 36 x 38 inches

Fall Evening Oil on linen 26 x 34 inches38

Gardens at Giverny Watercolor on paper 23 x 40 inches40

42 Reflection Watercolor on paper 29 1/2 x 41 inches

44 Frozen Creek Cedaburg (study) Oil on linen 8 x 16 inches

Fallen Trees (study) Oil on linen 8 x 16 inches46

William Nichols

Born: April 1, 1942; Chicago, IL Resides: Chicago, IL

Education:

1968-69 Slade School of Art, University College, London, England; post graduate work 1968 University of Illinois, Urbana, IL; M.F.A. 1968 Slade School of Art, University College, London, England; Fulbright- Hayes Scholar 1966 School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL; B.F.A. 1961-66 University of Chicago (in conjunction with the School of the Art Institute of Chicago) Chicago, IL

Select Group Exhibitions:

2007-2009 Participating in Art In Embassy Program, United States State Department, Prague, Czechoslovakia 2001-02 Rain Forest: Contemporary Paintings by International Artists, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; Taipei Gallery, New York, NY; 1999 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 1997 Christine Adapon Fine Art, Manila, Philippines 1994 Collectors’ Choice, Center for the Arts, Vero Beach, FL 1994 Young Guns: East Coast Artists, Nevada Institute for Contemporary Art, Las Vegas, NV 1992 A View From Here: Heartland Landscape Painters, McLean County Arts Center, Bloomington, IL 1988 100 Years of Wisconsin Art, Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee,WI 1988 American Realism: Twentieth Century Drawings and Watercolors: The Glenn C. Janss Collection, Boise Art Museum, Boise, ID 1988 Realisms, Fine Arts Galleries, UNM Art Museum, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI 1987 The Hot Centre: Contemporary Art Selected By Ivan Karp, Norton Center for the Arts, Centre College, Danville, KY 1987 Fifty-First National Midyear Exhibition, Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH 1987 Director’s Choice, Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa, FL 1987 Lower Manhattan Revisited: SoHo NoHo. and Tribeca, Maier Museum

of Art, Randolph-Macon Women’s College, Lynchburg, VA 1887 Mainstream America: The Collection of Phil Desind, The Butler Institute of American Art,Youngstown, OH 1985-87 American Realism: Twentieth Century Drawings and Watercolors from the Glenn C. Janss Collection, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA; traveling exhibition 1985 Midwest Realists, Paine Art Center & Arboretum, Oshkosh, WI 1985 Focus on Realism: Selections from the Collection of Glenn C. Janss, Boise Gallery of Art, Boise, ID 1984 Wisconsin Directions 4, Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI 1984 American Landscape Painting, Fine Arts Gallery, California State University, Los Angeles, CA 1982 Watercolor U.S.A., Springfield Art Museum, Springfield, MO 1982 Painterly Realism, Rahr-West Museum, Manitowoc, WI 1981-82 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 1981 Contemporary American Landscapes, Taft Museum, Cincinnati, OH 1979 Photo Realism, Jorgensen Gallery, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 1975 Three Man Show, Hyde Park Center, Chicago, IL 1974 Midwest Invitational Painting Show, Chicago, IL

Solo Exhibitions:

2015 CK Contemporary, San Francisco, CA 2010 Thomas Paul Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA 2010 Tory Folliard Gallery, Milwaukee, WI 2009 Allyn Gallup Contemporary Art, Sarasota, FL 2008 Mason Murer Gallery, Atlanta, GA 2007 Tory Folliard Gallery, Milwaukee, WI 2006 Robert Kidd Gallery, Birmingham, MI 2005 O.K. Harris Works of Art, New York, NY 2001 O.K. Harris Works of Art, New York, NY 2000 Harmon-Meek Gallery, Naples, FL 2000 Robert Kidd Gallery, Birmingham, MI 1998 Robert Kidd Gallery, Birmingham, MI 1997 O.K. Harris Works of Art, New York, NY 1994 O.K. Harris Works of Art, New York, NY 1991 O.K. Harris Works of Art, New York, NY 1991 Michael Lord Gallery, Milwaukee, WI 1989 Michael Lord Gallery, Milwaukee, WI

1989 O.K. Harris Works of Art, New York, NY 1986 O.K. Harris Works of Art, New York, NY 1985 O.K. Harris Works of Art, New York, NY 1983 O.K. Harris works of Art, New York, NY 1981 O.K. Harris Works of Art, New York, NY 1979 O.K. Harris Works of Art, New York, NY 1977 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 Fran-cisco Museum of Modern Art/Harry N. Abrams Publishers, New York, 1985.

American Landscape Painting, Fine Arts Gallery, California State University, Los Ange-les, 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: Periodi-cals

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, Decem-ber 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