Audley Dean Nicols

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Audley Dean Nicols
Born(1875-09-22)22 September 1875
Sewickley, Pennsylvania, US
Died13 November 1941(1941-11-13) (aged 66)
El Paso, Texas, USA
Resting placeRestlawn Memorial Park
Alma materArt Students League of New York
Known forDesert landscape painting
SpouseMary Olivia Nicols née Mahoney
ElectedSouthern National Academy
Patron(s)Carl Wunderly
Louis Roy Hoard
Alice Clyde Nicols (1902), El Paso Museum of Art

Audley Dean Nicols (22 September 1875–13 November 1941) was an American artist, illustrator and muralist. Born and raised in Sewickley, Pennsylvania; he studied in New York and Europe, and worked as an illustrator for various national magazines in the United States. He moved to El Paso, Texas in the early 1920s, where he painted desert landscapes of the American Southwest. Nicols achieved national recognition during his lifetime; his style and choice of subjects gathering followers who became known as the "Purple Mountain Painters".

Life and career[edit]

Born in 1875 in Sewickley 12 miles (19 km) from Pittsburgh along the Ohio River, Audley Dean Nicols was the son of Parshall D. Nicols, an iron broker, and Elizabeth "Lizzie" Agnes McLaughlin, an art teacher. He had a sister, Alice Clyde Nicols, and two brothers, Verner, who died of the Spanish Flu, and Lowell, who was an art critic and an optical glass research chemist.[1] His mother Lizzie, who had studied with painter George Hetzel and taught drawing and painting at the Steubenville Seminary, gave him his first art lessons.[2]

After graduating from Sewickley High School in 1893 he went to New York to study under Harry Siddons Mowbray, Edwin Blashfield, and Kenyon Cox, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Art Students League of New York.[3][4] After further studies in Europe, Nicols started a career as a magazine illustrator, working for several publications including Collier's, McClure's, Cosmopolitan, Harper's, Scribner's, St. Nicholas Magazine, and The Burr McIntosh Monthly.[5][6][7] After a period of convalescence at home due to surgical operations, he moved into oil painting, working from a studio in the Sewickley Valley Trust building.[8] Some of his work from this earlier period includes murals in Pittsburgh public buildings and portraits.[9] He painted Civil War General Alexander Hays in a portrait[10] and in a now lost painting where he is shown dragging the Confederate flag from his horse.[11] His work in oils began to get some recognition and in 1904 Nicols' painting A Reverie was accepted for the ninth Carnegie International Exhibition in Pittsburgh.[2]

Nicols began visiting the Arizona desert and Texas from around 1912, permanently moving with his family to El Paso in 1922,[12] due in part to health problems with an extrapulmonary tuberculosis contracted in his youth, and that made him walk with a limp.[4][13] He lived in a rock house in Fort Boulevard at the foothills of the Franklin mountains, and since before his permanent move he went on long desert expeditions for plein air painting, first in the company of two Franciscan priests and later with a friend.[2] His first work with of a desert subject was bought by breakfast cereal pioneer Charles W. Post in a Chicago gallery, sometime between 1912 and 1914.[14]

Illustration by Audley Dean Nicols in St. Nicholas Magazine, 1899

Nicols continued to paint desert panoramas of Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and California, and large canvas on Old West subjects. His 1927 depiction of Tokay, a former coal-mining settlement in Socorro County, New Mexico, is considered a valuable historical record of what is now a ghost town.[15] Also in 1927, a lithograph reproduction of Nicols' painting of Texas' El Capitan peak was distributed in a publicity campaign for the Texas and Pacific Railway.[16] The original painting of the mountain was later placed in Abilene's Research Center for the Southwest, at the Hardin-Simmons University library.[17] In 1929 he was commissioned by architect Henry Trost to design the glass-stained mural which incorporates the 6-by-7-foot (1.8 by 2.1 m) painting Cave creek canyon - Chiricahua mountains, located at the top of the lobby stairs of the Gadsden Hotel in Douglas, Arizona.[18]

In his later life Nicols was characterized as eccentric and mysterious, absorbed by his work, but he had a circle of close friends including other artists and General Robert L. Howze.[19][20] He was married to Mary Olivia Nicols née Mahoney, an Irish immigrant, and had two children, Audley Dean Jr and Mary Beth.[21] In 1932 he was hospitalized for several weeks due to a brain hemorrhage but eventually recovered.[22] He died almost ten years later in November 1941,[23] just a few months after celebrating his daughter's 10th birthday.[24] The artist was buried in Restlawn Memorial Park in El Paso, with writer and muralist Tom Lea, who was also Mary Beth's godfather, acting as one of the pallbearers.[25][23]

Style and legacy[edit]

Audley Dean Nicols' style of clean, detailed landscape painting was inspired by the clarity, sharp lines and strong contrasts of the desert, and he applied techniques to capture the colors and hint at the vast expanses.[26][27] Nicols said in 1916:

The desert is everything but gray. There are clean fresh blues, pinks and yellows in the skies, opalescent purple, rose and lavender in the ever-present distant mountains, dull greens of every shade in the vegetation, reds and yellows in the rocks and earth -but never gray.[28]

Critics have recognized his depiction of the distinctive nature of desert light as one of the best.[12] Nicols' compositions are often organized in three horizontal sections; the desert ground and vegetation below, mountains in the middle and the sky above. He depicted vibrant nature scenes with only small traces of humans, if any, using warm light and vivid colors such as bluish purple for the distant mountains.[29] The style and subjects of his work achieved significant popularity and were followed by other West Texas artists, who collectively became known as the "Purple Mountain Painters".[29][26] Nicols was a friend of other local El Paso artists such as Fremont Ellis and Lewis Teel, and encouraged Eugene Thurston to start painting.[30]

View of El Paso at sunset (c. 1922–1925), El Paso Museum of Art

Nicols is considered an important early Texas artist who is especially known for his large-scale portrayals of desert scenes,[31] although he mostly depicted human subjects in his earlier work, and got an honorable mention in the 1927 San Antonio wild flower competition organized by oilman and philanthropist Edgar B. Davis.[32] Nicols' work View of El Paso at sunset was included in the 2019 major exhibition "The Art of Texas: 250 Years" at the Witte Museum, San Antonio.[19][33] This 22-foot (6.7 m) painting was commissioned by the First National Bank of El Paso in 1925; when the bank closed in 1933, a local resident purchased it and donated it to El Paso High School.[25] The painting remained on display at the school library until 1972, when it was taken down for restoration. During renovations of the school in 2000,[25] the painting was discovered in a janitor's closet.[34]

Nicols achieved some national recognition during his lifetime, his well-sold paintings helping to romanticize the Southwest and forming part of several private and public collections, including that of the White House during the Warren G. Harding administration (1921–1923).[12] Records show that 14-by-22-inch (36 by 56 cm) paintings by Nicols sold at between $250 and $500 by the end of the 1920s, which were considerable sums at the time.[20] Results from Heritage Auctions for sales done between 2005 and 2019 show prices ranging from $4,000 to $22,500.[35] In a 2017 Bonhams auction, Desert at dusk (1928) with dimensions of 16-by-24-inch (41 by 61 cm) sold for $35,000.[36] As of 2021, works by Nicols are part of the permanent collections of museums such as the Phoenix Art Museum, Tucson Museum of Art, and El Paso Museum of Art.[37][38]

Paintings[edit]

  • Sunland landscape (1923), El Paso Museum of Art
    Sunland landscape (1923), El Paso Museum of Art
  • Arizona landscape (1920s), Phoenix Art Museum
    Arizona landscape (1920s), Phoenix Art Museum
  • Cave creek canyon (1929), Gadsden Hotel, Douglas, Arizona
    Cave creek canyon (1929), Gadsden Hotel, Douglas, Arizona

Further reading[edit]

  • Boss, Gayle; Duke, Thomas A. (2021). Everything but gray : the life of Audley Dean Nicols. Farmington Hills, Michigan. ISBN 978-0-578-90931-8. OCLC 1292556617.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Obituary: Lowell W. Nicols". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. August 2, 1940. p. 5. Retrieved January 21, 2021.
  2. ^ a b c Duke, Thomas; Boss, Gayle (2021). Everything but gray: The life of Audley Dean Nicols. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomas Duke Press. ISBN 978-0-578-90931-8.
  3. ^ Grauer, Paula L.; Grauer, Michael R. (1999). Dictionary of Texas artists, 1800-1945. College Station: Texas A&M University. p. 70. ISBN 978-0-89096-861-1.
  4. ^ a b "Audley Dean Nicols Biography". Taos and Santa Fe Painters. Archived from the original on December 1, 2020. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
  5. ^ Burr McIntosh Monthly 1903-07, December 14, 2018, retrieved December 2, 2020
  6. ^ Halff, Harry (2017). "Audley Dean Nicols". Harry Halff Fine Art. Archived from the original on December 2, 2020. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
  7. ^ Dodge, Mary Mapes (1900). St. Nicholas Magazine. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Information and Library Science Library. [New York : Scribner & Co.] p. 79.
  8. ^ "Correspondence". Smithsonian Institution. Carnegie Institute, Museum of Art records. Archived from the original on January 21, 2021. Retrieved January 21, 2021.
  9. ^ Samuels, Peggy; Samuels, Harold (1985). Samuels' encyclopedia of artists of the American West. Secaucus, N.J. : Castle. p. 348. ISBN 978-1-55521-014-4.
  10. ^ Gorczyca, Robert (2003). "The Civil War letters of Brigadier General Alexander Hays". Western Pennsylvania History. 86 (1): 10–24.
  11. ^ Butko, Brian (2003). "The famous, missing painting". Western Pennsylvania History. 86 (1): 25.
  12. ^ a b c "El Paso High School to restore historic painting of the area". El Paso Times. January 9, 1972. p. 94. Retrieved January 22, 2021.
  13. ^ "Audley Dean Nicols Paintings". Charles Morin's Vintage Texas Gallery. 2020. Archived from the original on December 2, 2020. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
  14. ^ "Arizona desert becomes a studio". Pittsburgh Index. July 7, 1917. p. 5.
  15. ^ Hook, Stephen C. (June 2015). "Then and Now—A Brief History of Tokay, New Mexico" (PDF). New Mexico Geology. 37 (2): 47–51. doi:10.58799/NMG-v37n2.47. S2CID 259454559. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 15, 2020.
  16. ^ "Railroad uses Texas painting to advertise". El Paso Evening Post. November 20, 1929. p. 10. Retrieved January 21, 2021.
  17. ^ "To hang in center". Abilene Reporter-News. April 9, 1975. p. 10. Retrieved May 28, 2021.
  18. ^ "History". The Gadsden. March 3, 2017. Archived from the original on December 2, 2020. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
  19. ^ a b Fowler, Gene (August 23, 2019). "The Whole Enchilada: 250 Years of Texas Art at the Witte Museum". Glasstire. Archived from the original on September 30, 2020. Retrieved December 5, 2020.
  20. ^ a b "Audley Dean Nicols". Fine Arts of Texas Inc. 2020. Archived from the original on December 5, 2020. Retrieved December 5, 2020.
  21. ^ "Engagement of Miss Nicols, Ronald F. Morrison announced". El Paso Times. April 29, 1951. p. 31. Retrieved January 18, 2021.
  22. ^ Turner, Jack (September 1, 1932). "Famous artist tells of reaction when near death". El Paso Times. p. 1. Retrieved January 18, 2021.
  23. ^ a b "El Paso artist taken by death". El Paso Times. November 14, 1941. p. 12. Retrieved January 19, 2021.
  24. ^ "Has birthday". El Paso Times. July 20, 1941. p. 14. Retrieved May 29, 2021.
  25. ^ a b c Sanchez, Sara (February 5, 2019). "An El Paso treasure that spent time in a janitor's closet now hangs in art museums". El Paso Times. Retrieved January 20, 2021.
  26. ^ a b Sommer, Elisabeth W. (September 8, 2017). "El Paso Museum of Art Audio Guide Labels". The Museum Doctor. Archived from the original on December 8, 2020. Retrieved December 8, 2020.
  27. ^ Galaviz, Lisa; Talusani, Sarita (May 2005). "Visions of Texas: Exploring early Texas art" (PDF). Center for the Advancement and Study of Early Texas Art. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 8, 2020. Retrieved December 8, 2020.
  28. ^ "Beautiful Arizona". Sewickley Herald. July 29, 1916. p. 4. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
  29. ^ a b Gerstheimer, Christian J. (2010). Leach, Dorothy Ann (ed.). Into the desert light: Early El Paso art 1850−1960. El Paso, TX: El Paso Museum of Art. pp. 12–21. ISBN 978-0-9785383-3-0.
  30. ^ Zanetell, Myrna (February 17, 2013). "3 generations of El Paso Art". El Paso Inc. Archived from the original on January 23, 2021. Retrieved January 22, 2021.
  31. ^ "Audley Dean Nicols Painting View of El Paso at Sunset". El Paso Times. February 1, 2019. Archived from the original on December 5, 2020. Retrieved December 5, 2020.
  32. ^ Lilly, Marie Seacord (1929). "The Texas wild flower painting competitions". The American Magazine of Art. 20 (6): 342–347. ISSN 2151-254X. JSTOR 23930460 – via JSTOR.
  33. ^ Hart, Alexandra (May 13, 2019). "Seeing Texas History Through An Artistic Lens". Texas Standard. Archived from the original on December 5, 2020. Retrieved December 5, 2020.
  34. ^ Cascone, Sarah (February 6, 2019). "A Long-Lost Classic of Texas Art Was Found in a Janitor's Closet—and Now It's Getting Its Own Museum Show". artnet News. Archived from the original on December 5, 2020. Retrieved December 5, 2020.
  35. ^ "Search: audley dean nicols [0 790 231]". Heritage Auctions. Archived from the original on May 27, 2021. Retrieved May 27, 2021.
  36. ^ Levitt, Scot (August 1, 2017). "Desert at Dusk". Bonhams. Archived from the original on May 27, 2021. Retrieved May 27, 2021.
  37. ^ "Object Record". Tucson Museum of Art. 2016. Archived from the original on December 4, 2020. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
  38. ^ "Object record". El Paso Museum of Art. Archived from the original on December 4, 2020. Retrieved December 4, 2020.

External links[edit]

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