Hobart Nichols

Henry Hobart Nichols, Jr. (1869–1962) was an American landscape painter and illustrator.^[1] Nichols was born to Henry Hobart and Indiana Jay Nichols on May 1, 1869^[2] in Washington, D.C. He attended Shortledge College in Pennsylvania, studied under Howard Hemlock and Edmund Clarence Messer at the Art Students League of Washington and later, completed in 1905, studies with Caludio Castelucho at the Académie Julian in Paris. He died August 13, 1962^[2] in Bronxville, New York.^[3]

The Brooklyn Bridge painted by Hobart Nichols in 1920.

Family

Nichols' father, Hobart Nichols Sr., was a noted wood engraver who engraved the sketches in The History of North American Birds by Baird, Brewer and Ridgeway.^[4] His mother, Indiana Jay Nichols was skilled at drawing and “interested in all things related to the arts.”^[5] Hobart’s brother, Spencer Baird Nichols, was a portrait painter and illustrator. The brothers both married artists and their descendants include painters.^[6]

Nichols married painter Wilhelmina von Stoschm also of Washington DC, in 1895. They had two daughters, Hildegarde born 1896 and Leonora born in 1897.^[5] In 1908 the family moved to New York City. Then in 1910 they bought land in Lawrence Park a growing artists' colony in Bronxville, New York.^[7]

Career

Nichols' began his career as an illustrator for the U.S. Geological Survey where he remained for 15 years building his fine art career in his spare time. Ultimately he became known for his landscapes rendered in oil or watercolor. His grandniece, Barbara Sussman’s description of her great uncle's work repeats the themes of so many of his viewers through his long career “Hobart’s paintings are solid and well executed, and he seldom strayed from the winter landscapes in which he found so much interest in exploring the nuances of light on snow.”^[5]

Hobart Nichols was known as much for his leadership in the art community as he was for his painting.^[8] He was president of the National Academy of Art for ten years and exhibited there, the Salmagundi Club and Grand Central Galleries many times. Today, Nichols’ work is among the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian Institution the National Gallery of Art and the Phillips Collection. Nichols died nearly blind, at the age of 93, August 13, 1962,^[9] in Bronxville, twelve years after the death of his younger brother Spencer and eight years after the death of his wife.

Awards

• Washington Water Color Club Prize 1895, 1901
• Second Corcoran Prize, Society of Washington Artists 1901
• Parsons Prize, Society of Washington Artists 1902, 1904
• First Corcoran Prize, Society of Washington Artists 1906
• Turnbull Prize, Salmagundi Club 1913
• National Arts Club of New York bronze medal 1914
• Evans Prize, Salmagundi Club 1915
• Porter Prize, Salmagundi Club 1918
• National Arts Club of New York silver medal 1920
• Thompson Prize, Salmagundi Club 1920
• Second Altman Prize at the National Academy of Design 1923
• Vezin Prize, Salmagundi Club 1924
• First Altman Prize at the National Academy of Design 1925
• Isidor Prize, Salmagundi Club 1926
• Members Purchase Prize, Salmagundi Club 1927
• National Academy of Design Prize 1928
• Gregg Memorial Prize, National Arts Club 1930
• First Altman Prize at the National Academy of Design 1934
• National Academy of Design Prize 1935
• Henry B. Snope Prize, Society of American Etchers, Inc. 1936
• Century Club Prize 1938
• Salmagundi Club Prize 1939^[5]

Associations

• Allied Artists of America
• The American Water Color Society (President, 1936–37)
• Artists for Victory, World War II (President)
• The Century Club, NY (Board of Management)
• Connecticut Academy of Fine Arts
• The Cosmos Club, Washington, DC
• Grand Central Art Galleries
• Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation (Director 1934–1959)
• The Lotos Club of New York City
• National Academy of Design (NA 1920; President, 1939–49)
• National Arts Club
• National Institute of Arts and Letters
• New York Water Color Club
• North Shore Art Association
• Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts
• Salmagundi Club, NY (President, 1922–24)
• Society of Washington Artists
• Washington Water Color Club^[5]

References

Further reading

• Austin, Robert Michael (2003) Artists of the Litchfield Hills The Mattatuck Historical Society, Waterbury, Conn.
• Hill, Marilynn Wood (2008) Bronxville Artists & Friends: Legacies Past and Future Bronxville Historical Conservancy, Inc. Bronxville, NY.
• Hoagland, Loretta (1992) Lawrence Park Bronxville's Turn-of-the-Century Artist Colony Lawrence Park Hilltop Association, Bronxville, NY.