← Previous revisionRevision as of 06:25, 3 November 2026 Line 19: Line 19: }} }} [[File:William_Nichols_Overgrown_Garden_1984.jpg|thumb|right|345px|William Nichols, ''Overgrown Garden'', oil on canvas, 63" x 110", 1984.]] [[File:William_Nichols_Overgrown_Garden_1984.jpg|thumb|right|345px|William Nichols, ''Overgrown Garden'', oil on canvas, 63" x 110", 1984.]] '''William Nichols''' (born 1942) is an American artist known for highly detailed, tactile [[landscape painting]]s that combine physical scale with intimacy.Lamagna, Catherine. "William A. Nichols," ''Arts Magazine'', September 1979, p. 15.Arthur, John. [https://www.amazon.com/Spirit-Place-Contemporary-Landscape-Tradition/dp/0821217070/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Arthur%2C+John.+%27%27Spirit+of+Place%3A+Contemporary+Landscape+Painting+%26+The+American+Tradition%27%27%2C&qid=1559227851&s=books&sr=1-1 ''Spirit of Place: Contemporary Landscape Painting & The American Tradition''], Boston: Little, Brown and Company/Bulfinch Press, 1989. Retrieved May 29, 2019. His work depicts unassuming gardens, forests, ponds, and streams rather than grand vistas, in dense, close-up screens of foliage, thicket or water that immerse viewers within the experience rather outside it.Goodyear, Jr. Frank H. [https://www.amazon.com/Contemporary-American-realism-since-1960/dp/0821211269/ref=sr_1_4?qid=1559228061&refinements=p_27%3AJr.+Frank+H.+Goodyear&s=books&sr=1-4&text=Jr.+Frank+H.+Goodyear ''Contemporary American Realism Since 1960''], Philadelphia, PA: New York Graphic Society, Boston and Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, 1981. Retrieved May 29, 2019.San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. "Facing Reality: Twentieth-Century American Realist and Realistic Drawings in Perspective," ''American Realism: Twentieth-Century Drawings and Watercolors '', New York: Harry N. Abrams and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 1986.Gonzales, Jose (ed). ''Art Libre'', Catalogue, Barcelona, Spain: Galeria Art Libre, 2013. Nichols developed his mature style in the 1970s, combining painterly traditions going back to [[Impressionism]] with reemerging movements such as [[Realism (art movement)|Realism]] and [[Photorealism]];Hale, Nike "SoHo and The Realist Revolution", ''Art/World'', May/June 1979.Colt, John N. " Introduction," ''Realisms'', Milwaukee, WI: University of Wisconsin Fine Arts Galleries, 1988. critic [[John Perreault]] called his approach, "Photo-Impressionism."Perreault, John. "Reviews," ''SoHo Weekly News'', September 25, 1975. He has exhibited throughout the United States and abroad, including at [[OK Harris Gallery]] in New York (1979–2013),OK Harris Works of Art. [http://www.okharris.com/artists/nichols.htm "William Nichols,"] Artists. Retrieved May 29, 2019. the [[San Francisco Museum of Modern Art]], [[Milwaukee Museum of Art]],Milwaukee Art Museum. ''100 Years of Wisconsin Art'', Milwaukee, WI: Milwaukee Art Museum, 1988. [[Butler Institute of American Art]],Butler Institute of American Art. ''Fifty-First National Midyear Exhibition'', Youngstown, OH: Butler Institute of American Art, 1987. [[Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts]] (Taiwan),Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts. ''Rain Forest: Contemporary Paintings by International Artists'', Foreword by Tchen, Yu-chiou, Kaohsiung, Taiwan: Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, 2001. and [[Gulbenkian Museum]] (Lisbon); his work belongs to many private and public museum collections.Butler Institute of American Art. ''William Nichols: Landscape Paintings'', Youngstown, OH: Butler Institute of American Art, 2014. In addition to reviews in national publications,Ratcliff, Carter. "Reviews," ''Art International'', May/June 1977, p. 62.Raynor, Vivien. [https://www.nytimes.com/1979/04/01/archives/connecticut-weekly-art-realism-magnified-at-storrs.html?searchResultPosition=1 "Realism Magnified at Storrs,"] ''The New York Times'', April 1, 1979. Retrieved May 29, 2019. Nichols's work appears in several art historical surveys of Realism and landscape painting, including ''The Artist and the American Landscape''Driscoll, John. ''The Artist and the American Landscape'', Cobb, CA: First Glance Books, 1998, p. 67. and ''Contemporary American Realism Since 1960'', among others.Arthur, John. [https://www.amazon.com/Green-Woods-Crystal-Waters-Landscape/dp/0866590218 ''Green Woods & Crystal Waters: The American Landscape Tradition''], Tulsa, OK: Philbrook Museum of Art, 2000. Retrieved May 29, 2019.Schulte, Maria.''Landschaft Als Weltsicht'', Catalogue, Silke von Berswordt-Wallrabe, et al. (eds), Weinan, 2010, p. 214, 220, 323. Critic Mac McCloud observed that Nichols's "meticulous craft and precise observation of shape, edge, color and light" rendered his work "almost beyond reality […] alive with growth and transformation, teeming with insects and sweltering weather and yet, in the eternal aesthetic paradox it is motionless."McCloud, Mac. ''American Landscape Painting'', Catalogue, Los Angeles: California State University Fine Arts Gallery, 1984. Gallerist [[Ivan Karp]] wrote, "the vital pulse" of Nichols's paintings defies "the conviction that 400 years of depictions of the natural world nullify the ability of living artists to produce landscapes of high consequence."Karp, Ivan. ''William Nichols: Landscape Paintings'', Youngstown, OH: Butler Institute of American Art, 2014. '''William Nichols''' (born 1942) is an American artist known for highly detailed, tactile [[landscape painting]]s that combine physical scale with intimacy.Lamagna, Catherine. "William A. Nichols," ''Arts Magazine'', September 1979, p. 15.Arthur, John. [https://www.amazon.com/Spirit-Place-Contemporary-Landscape-Tradition/dp/0821217070/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Arthur%2C+John.+%27%27Spirit+of+Place%3A+Contemporary+Landscape+Painting+%26+The+American+Tradition%27%27%2C&qid=1559227851&s=books&sr=1-1 ''Spirit of Place: Contemporary Landscape Painting & The American Tradition''], Boston: Little, Brown and Company/Bulfinch Press, 1989. Retrieved May 29, 2019. His work depicts unassuming gardens, forests, ponds, and streams rather than grand vistas, in dense, close-up screens of foliage, thicket or water that immerse viewers within the experience rather outside it.Goodyear, Jr. Frank H. [https://www.amazon.com/Contemporary-American-realism-since-1960/dp/0821211269/ref=sr_1_4?qid=1559228061&refinements=p_27%3AJr.+Frank+H.+Goodyear&s=books&sr=1-4&text=Jr.+Frank+H.+Goodyear ''Contemporary American Realism Since 1960''], Philadelphia, PA: New York Graphic Society, Boston and Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, 1981. Retrieved May 29, 2019.San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. "Facing Reality: Twentieth-Century American Realist and Realistic Drawings in Perspective," ''American Realism: Twentieth-Century Drawings and Watercolors '', New York: Harry N. Abrams and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 1986.Gonzales, Jose (ed). ''Art Libre'', Catalogue, Barcelona, Spain: Galeria Art Libre, 2013. Nichols developed his mature style in the 1970s, combining painterly traditions going back to [[Impressionism]] with reemerging movements such as [[Realism (art movement)|Realism]] and [[Photorealism]];Hale, Nike "SoHo and The Realist Revolution", ''Art/World'', May/June 1979.Colt, John N. " Introduction," ''Realisms'', Milwaukee, WI: University of Wisconsin Fine Arts Galleries, 1988. critic [[John Perreault]] called his approach, "Photo-Impressionism."Perreault, John. "Reviews," ''SoHo Weekly News'', September 25, 1975. He has exhibited throughout the United States and abroad, including at [[OK Harris Gallery]] in New York (1979–2013),OK Harris Works of Art. [http://www.okharris.com/artists/nichols.htm "William Nichols,"] Artists. Retrieved May 29, 2019. the [[San Francisco Museum of Modern Art]], [[Milwaukee Museum of Art]],Milwaukee Art Museum. ''100 Years of Wisconsin Art'', Milwaukee, WI: Milwaukee Art Museum, 1988. [[Butler Institute of American Art]],Butler Institute of American Art. ''Fifty-First National Midyear Exhibition'', Youngstown, OH: Butler Institute of American Art, 1987. [[Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts]] (Taiwan),Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts. ''Rain Forest: Contemporary Paintings by International Artists'', Foreword by Tchen, Yu-chiou, Kaohsiung, Taiwan: Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, 2001. and [[Gulbenkian Museum]] (Lisbon); his work belongs to many private and public museum collections.Butler Institute of American Art. ''William Nichols: Landscape Paintings'', Youngstown, OH: Butler Institute of American Art, 2014. In addition to reviews in national publications,Ratcliff, Carter. "Reviews," ''Art International'', May/June 1977, p. 62.Raynor, Vivien. [https://www.nytimes.com/1979/04/01/archives/connecticut-weekly-art-realism-magnified-at-storrs.html?searchResultPosition=1 "Realism Magnified at Storrs,"] ''The New York Times'', April 1, 1979. Retrieved May 29, 2019. Nichols's work appears in several art historical surveys of Realism and landscape painting, including ''The Artist and the American Landscape''Driscoll, John. ''The Artist and the American Landscape'', Cobb, CA: First Glance Books, 1998, p. 67. and ''Contemporary American Realism Since 1960'', among others.Arthur, John. [https://www.amazon.com/Green-Woods-Crystal-Waters-Landscape/dp/0866590218 ''Green Woods & Crystal Waters: The American Landscape Tradition''], Tulsa, OK: Philbrook Museum of Art, 2000. Retrieved May 29, 2019.Schulte, Maria.''Landschaft Als Weltsicht'', Catalogue, Silke von Berswordt-Wallrabe, et al. (eds), Weinan, 2010, p. 214, 220, 323. Critic Mac McCloud observed that Nichols's "meticulous craft and precise observation of shape, edge, color and light" rendered his work "almost beyond reality […] alive with growth and transformation, teeming with insects and sweltering weather and yet, in the eternal aesthetic paradox it is motionless."McCloud, Mac. ''American Landscape Painting'', Catalogue, Los Angeles: California State University Fine Arts Gallery, 1984. Gallerist [[Ivan Karp]] wrote, "the vital pulse" of Nichols's paintings defies "the conviction that 400 years of depictions of the natural world nullify the ability of living artists to produce landscapes of high consequence."Karp, Ivan. ''William Nichols: Landscape Paintings'', Youngstown, OH: Butler Institute of American Art, 2014. ==Life and career== ==Life and career==